“Kent Police said in a statement: “[Officers were] called at 12.07pm on Saturday August 27 to a report of a bridge collapse between junction 4 and junction 3 on the M20 London-bound.
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Highways England says the road is expected to be closed for up to six hours as double the amount of people are expected to hit the motorways for Bank Holiday weekend.
Highways England said that the part of the M20 between junctions two and four will remain closed until at least midday on Sunday, but that delays have now shortened and tailbacks have reduced.
A Kent Police spokesman said: “It is believed a lorry collided with a pedestrian bridge which has collapsed on to the carriageway below”.
Video footage from the scene shows the top of a lorry’s trailer sheared off, and debris littering the carriageway. “30 seconds earlier and we could have been underneath it”.
The southeast motorway, which links London with the major cross-Channel port of Dover and the nearby Eurotunnel terminal, was closed in both directions.
Witness Andy Sunnucks, 24, said: “We are about 15 cars back on the same carriageway as the collision”.
A spokesperson for the South East Coast Ambulance Service said paramedics were treating one patient and that the air ambulance were sent to the scene.
It looked like a lorry had jackknifed, and I could see half the bridge was missing.
Motorists from around Sussex are being advised to avoid using the M20 if travelling to Kent after a bridge collapsed.
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The footbridge buckled onto a lorry between junctions three and four, forcing its closure in both directions.
