The M20 in Kent reopened fully on Sunday afternoon, ahead of schedule, following a successful operation to remove a section of footbridge damaged the previous weekend.
The bridge was struck by a digger on a lorry over the August bank holiday weekend, causing huge traffic jams.
Work to demolish the remaining section of bridge
Although one half of the bridge – over the London-bound carriageway – collapsed, the section over the other carriageway remained in place and was declared safe enough for the motorway to reopen pending its removal.
Highways England said that from Friday night more than 100 people, working some 4,200 man hours, were involved in an operation to demolish and remove the structure.
To enable this to be done safely a section of the M20 had to be closed in both directions, as did the M26, which links the M20 to junction 5 of the M25.
The M20 and M26 had originally been due to be reopened by 6am on Monday morning.
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