Franks Lane and the Heathside updates

Kent Highways will start resurfacing work in Franks Lane, Horton Kirby, on Friday (9 April); this is expected to take two days, requiring a road closure. Works will take place between 7am and 7pm. The entire road, from the junction with the A225 to Eglantine Lane, will be treated with micro asphalt, a quick setting method suitable for roads which are structurally solid but have quite a lot of surface wear.

These works will provide the opportunity to undertake road marking improvements, part of measures to improve clarity and visibility for drivers approaching the bridge, with consequent benefits for pedestrians too. These will comprise additional and some refreshed SLOW markings, along with edge of carriageway markings.

At a later date - probably in the second half of April - road signage will be added, indicating road narrowing and pedestrians in the road. The existing chevrons - which have frequently been removed, and which the Parish Council has long raised as a concern with me - will be taken down and signs indicating a bridge parapet will be placed on new posts in the verge in front of the bridge. They should be much more durable.

It had originally been hoped that all the works could be done in one go and with one road closure; in practice, it wasn’t possible to dovetail them all, but hopefully we should see significant improvements to Franks Lane, in terms both of the road surface and of the approach to the bridge, by the end of the month.

Kent Highways is also, at the request of the Parish Council, carrying out some repairs to the footway at the entrance to Heathside Park in Horton Road, South Darenth. These should be carried out on Thursday 8 April.