Overnight exit slip closures hit M20 near Channel Tunnel through September

An automated tracker flagged a closure of the M20 westbound junction 6 exit slip, active overnight and due to lift at 06:00 today, according to the estate's own monitoring instrument. The reporting material gathered for this article does not describe the junction 6 works in any detail — the only substantive account available concerns a separate, ongoing programme of closures at junction 12, some 20 miles further down the M20 towards the coast, according to [1]. Wayne should treat the junction 6 detail as unconfirmed beyond the bare fact that it was flagged and has now ended. What is documented is that National Highways has begun safety improvement works at junction 12, Cheriton, close to the Channel Tunnel terminal, according to [1]. The first phase closes the coastbound exit slip every night from 8pm to 6am between 1 and 15 September, according to [1]. Daytime traffic management will also remain in place at times while safety barrier works are carried out, according to [1]. Drivers who normally leave the motorway at junction 12 coastbound during that closure window are being told to continue to the next junction, exit, and double back coastbound to reach it, according to [1]. The disruption does not stop there. From 15 to 30 September, the closure switches sides: the Londonbound exit slip at junction 12 will close overnight between 8pm and 6am instead, according to [1]. The same diversion principle applies in reverse — drivers will need to carry on to the next junction, turn around, and return to junction 12, according to [1]. Separately, National Highways says the junction 12 roundabout itself will run with narrowed lanes and outer-ring traffic management for the whole of September, according to [1]. Junction 12 links the M20 to the A20 and B2064 at Cheriton and sits close to the Channel Tunnel terminal, according to [1]. National Highways has cautioned that planned closures of this kind can change at short notice, and it recommends checking its daily closures information before setting off, according to [1]. For Wayne, the practical read is this: the junction 6 westbound exit slip closure that triggered tonight's alert appears to have been a short, localised, overnight construction closure that has now cleared, based on the trigger's own timing. The material fetched does not connect it to the junction 12 barrier works, and no source here confirms whether the two are part of the same National Highways programme along the M20 corridor. That link is unconfirmed and should not be assumed. What is clear is that the M20 will see rolling overnight exit closures at junction 12 through the rest of September, alternating sides mid-month, with roundabout lane restrictions running throughout, according to [1]. Anyone routing near the Channel Tunnel terminal overnight this month should expect diversions via the next junction along. What to watch next: whether National Highways' daily closures notices confirm any further junction 6 works, or link them formally to the junction 12 barrier programme.