Traffic was stopped on the coastbound carriageway of the M20 because a pile of rubbish was on fire on the carriageway.
The incident happened between junction 8 A20 Ashford Road at Maidstone and junction 9 A20 Fougeres Way at Ashford at around 3.45pm.
It is believed the rubbish caught fire in the back of a tipper truck and the driver dumped his load to save the vehicle. There were no injuries.
The fire was out by 4.15pm and traffic is now returning to normal
Traffic has already been slower than usual because Operation Brock has been implemented ready for the Easter Weekend with the carriageway reduced by one lane.
