Wrotham Road is an essential link between popular towns and villages, Sevenoakes, Vigo, Meopham, Istead Rise and Gravesend. The bypass has become increasingly busy over the last few years, and needs to be maintained.
For the past several weeks, road works were taking place on Wrotham Road, in between Istead Rise and Meopham, and officially finished on 20th November. With many arguing it is one of the most dangerous bends in Kent, it is about time the problem with flooding was fixed.
For several years, the Wrotham Road bend as it comes in to Meopham has been quickly flooded by rainfall in the area. With the water having nowhere to go, it spreads out across the road, and erodes away at the curb and bank to its side.
One woman who has lived in Meopham for the majority of her life said, “It is about time they got it sorted. Far too dangerous for adults to be driving round let alone new, inexperienced drivers.”
The most recent crash occurred at 9:49pm on October 8th , where policed were called to find that a car had crashed in to an electrical pylon opposite. The car left the road and was found in a field next to it, turned on its roof, approximately 7ft lower. With incidents happening even without the road being covered with water, locals wonder why no work had been done earlier.
Every day, hundreds of cars pass along the location, at an approximate speed of 50mph. However, with traffic lights in place, queues were quickly accumulating – reaching as far back as Istead Rise. For some, delays needed to be accounted for.
A 19-year-old man said, “If only they had taken the initiative to do something about the problem earlier, I would not have had to pay out a large chunk of my savings to fix my crashed car. Ridiculous how long it has taken for the council to recognise it if you ask me.”
Many hope that the congestion and inconvenience was worthwhile in leading to a safer, less troubled road. With rainfall expected over the coming weeks, the test for the new drainage system will be a good one.
By Max Taylor
