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Road bosses have declared the answer to Operation Stack on the M20 is to divert traffic onto the wrong side of the motorway and implement a contraflow system.

The newly-named 'Operation Brock' will see traffic going in both directions between junctions 8 and 9 while lorries are queuing for the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel.

The government says the interim solution will keep the junctions open and stop the smaller roads in the area being clogged up.

The new plans will be in place by early 2019 - although no start date for necessary road works has been announced.

'Work needs to be done to allow two-way traffic'

The government plans says: "Highways England will start work soon on improving the northbound hard shoulder of the M20, to allow for two-way traffic to be contained within one carriageway, enabling the road to remain open."

Roads Minister Jesse Norman said: “We’ve seen the severe disruption that people in Kent had to face in 2015 when there were hold ups across the Channel.

“This interim plan will help to minimise that disruption and mean people will be able to go about their everyday lives, seeing friends and family or going to work, as well as businesses being able to get to their customers.”

But the leader of the Liberal Democrats at County Hall, Rob Bird, has raised concerns: "Contra-flow systems almost always result in a lengthy tail-back of traffic queuing to get into the contra-flow itself.

"This problem will be particularly acute in the stretch of the M20 from junctions 4 to 8 around Maidstone, which is already one of the heaviest used roads in Kent.

“Whenever there is an incident on the M20 extra traffic is pushed through Maidstone, causing gridlock in the town centre and the major arteries. I fear that Operation Brock will be a disaster for Maidstone’s residents and businesses.

“The Department for Transport and Highways England need to think again.”

What happened to the lorry park?

Plans to build a lorry park off the M20 to ease the impact of Operation Stack were axed in November last year.

The Department for Transport (DoT) announced the application to build a £250 million park in Stanford, near Hythe, had been withdrawn - and the plans had been shelved.

The park was due to built just off the M20 by Junction 11 near Folkestone to tackle disruption caused by Operation Stack and lorry drivers parking near public roads.

But road bosses were sent back to the drawing board to find a solution.

The lorry park plans were controversial and faced fierce local opposition.

Campaigners even worked with Stanford Parish Council to launch a judicial review against the plans in a bid to delay or even halt the park.

The DoT said it had no plans to defend the judicial review and the plans were shelved.

Will we ever have a permanent solution?

The government says a public consultation on a permanent solution to Operation Stack, led by Highways England, will be launched "shortly" - thought it is not clear when.

This will include asking residents, businesses and the freight industry whether they would rather see an on-road solution or an off-road lorry park.

A spokesman for the DoT said last year that Highways England is still looking at the possibility of a lorry park on another site.

What is Operation Stack?

Operation Stack, also known as Op Stack, is a way of managing traffic during disruption to Eurotunnel or ferry services in Kent.

Lorries waiting to use these services queue on the M20 and all other traffic is diverted to other routes.

Op Stack is used between junction 8 (Maidstone services) and junction 9 (Ashford) on the M20. If more space is needed, the closed section will extend to junction 11 (Westenhanger).

Freight is separated into two queues on either side of the coastbound carriageway, one for tunnel traffic and one for port traffic. The middle lanes are kept clear for emergency vehicles.

Lorries are released at the request of the Port of Dover and Channel Tunnel. As police officers move them down the queue in stages people may see stretches of the motorway clear from time to time.

If junction 8 to junction 11 reaches capacity, Highways England will use Manston airfield to park Port of Dover freight.