Dartford Fastrack bus route to see £2m upgrade start Jan 2024
Image Courtesy Lewis Smith. Attribution-2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Work to provide a bus lane and road changes in Dartford to aid Fastrack services are set to begin in January 2024.
Areas in the north of Rennie Drive near a number of large distribution depots will see changes after Christmas according to the latest update given before a Dartford Council meeting.
The project aims to improve the “junction arrangement and signals of Rennie Drive” thorough “providing a new southbound bus lane to reduce congestion issues associated with the Dartford Crossing and M25/J1A”
It will also allow Fastrack buses to turn left or right out of the junction and as well being able to turn left or right into the junction.
Future changes
Street changes include “changes to the traffic signals and footway and cycleway crossing points will allow greater pedestrian and cycle use for local residents.”
Fastrack services were diverted to serve new depots after a dedicated bus from Amazon ceased operation. That slowed down journeys hampering users across the network.
Dartford Fastrack services are set to be taken over by G0-Ahead with an all electric bus fleet from late 2024.
Funding for upcoming road changes comes from government’s Bus Service Improvement Plan with this scheme costed at £2 million.
This improvement follows news in July that improvement work planned in Ebbsfleet has stalled with work stopped.
