The Sheppey Crossing will be forced to shut again after National Highways discovered another defect on the bridge.
The Sheppey Crossing heading towards Sheerness was restricted to one lane on Friday 27th June after contractors FM Conway found a failure in one of the joints on the bridge.
While it has not been raised like the other two damaged joints previously, the northbound carriageway will be reduced as a safety precaution.
Cllr Mike Whiting says FM Conway has told him it will be worked on during the evening, and they hope it will “take no more than three shifts”.
However, to carry out the works the A249 towards Sheppey will be shut from Grovehurst at 7pm
Drivers will be directed to travel through Iwade and over the Kingsferry Bridge. Southbound will be unaffected.
At midnight, the A249 will reopen as far as the Ridham exit, though it will still mean traffic going onto the island will need to use the old bridge.
The bridge northbound remained closed on Saturday until FM Conway finished the job, which is expected to be Sunday evening.
It is yet more disruption to the route, which has faced regular closures since defective joints in the road began to impede the carriageway on 22nd May.
Last week, highways teams had to suddenly close the bridge in both directions while structural engineers assessed an “infrastructure bridge defect”.
