The Kier Group has been awarded a Highways England contract worth £160million over eight years to maintaining motorways, trunk roads, bridges and tunnels.

Kier, which has a base in Quedgeley and is building a new health centre in Gloucester, will maintain and repair roads in Kent, East Sussex and West Sussex.

The contract, which starts in November, includes 130km of the M2, M20 and M23 together with 320km of trunk roads and more than 1,000 structures such as the Medway Viaduct.

It includes incident response, severe weather delivery and maintenance of roadside technology and the provision of traffic management for the contractor's maintenance and response activities.

Kier Highways group managing director Joe Incutti said: "This eight-year contract adds to Kier Highways' capacity and capability across the South of England, where it will now work in a number of areas stretching from Cornwall through to Kent."

Kier manages, maintains and improves more than 30,000km of local authority and strategic roads and has recently completed construction on two smart motorways projects on the M20 and M23.

It operates one other maintenance and response contract in Cumbria and parts of Lancashire.

Highways England regional operations director Nicola Bell said: "Our roads are among the safest in the world and partnerships like this will help maintain high standards.

"We're delighted to welcome Kier Highways and look forward to building a successful, long-term relationship with them, driving improvement and strengthening our regional expertise together."