M2 motorway

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M2 motorway
Length	25.7 miles 41.4 km
Direction	West - East
Start	Strood
Primary destinations	Rochester Chatham Sittingbourne
End	Faversham
Construction dates	1963 - 1965
Motorways joined	None

For other uses, see M2 motorway (disambiguation).

The M2 is a motorway in Kent, England. It is 25.7 miles (41.4 km) long and acts as a bypass of the section of the A2 road which runs through the Medway Towns, Sittingbourne and Faversham. It is the only "M" motorway (as opposed to an "A-road(M)" motorway such as the A1(M)) that does not meet any other motorway at a junction (whilst the M57 and M67 do not connect to other motorways directly, they do meet other motorways at junctions which briefly require the motorist to use all-purpose roads to get from one to the other).

The M2 is also the longest motorway not to go past any primary destinations (westbound it is signed "London", eastbound "Canterbury, Channel Tunnel, Dover", none of which are anywhere near the M2 itself).

1 Route
2 History
3 Junctions
4 Trivia
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Route

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Junction 5 of the M2

The road starts as a 4 lane motorway to the east of Strood before heading south east. It then drops down into the Medway Valley and crosses the River Medway on the Medway Viaduct. After crossing the river, it climbs up Nashenden Valley to Blue Bell Hill onto the North Downs on a split level carrigeway and meets Junction 3. Here the road narrows to 3 lanes, and runs north east across Crossington Fields, Westfield Sole, Lidsing, and Bredhurst towards Junction 4, where the motorway becomes 2 lanes. Continuing east it crosses the A249 over the Stockbury Viaduct. It then continues along the North Downs, through a rural setting towards its terminus at Junction 7.

[edit] History

[edit] Original Construction

The M2 was constructed in the 1960s, with the Medway bypass being constructed in 1963 and the rest in 1965. It was opened in stages^[1]:

Junction 1 to 2 in 1965
Junction 2 to 5 in 1963
Junction 5 to 7 in 1965

It was planned to extend the road to London and Dover, making the M2 the main route between London and the channel ports, but this extension never materialised. The M2 was originally to be designated as the A2(M), but due to the Daily Telegraph reporting it as the M2, the Ministry of Transport changed the designation ^[2].

[edit] Junction Amendments

The M2 stayed much the same until the 1990s. Traffic using it decreased when the M20 was completed from London to Folkestone in 1991, and the M2 merely remains a bypass for the Medway Towns. Junction 1 was altered when the A289 Wainscott Northern bypass was built in the late 1990s.

[edit] Widening

The widened section approaching the lane drop at junction 4.

The M2 was still busy between Junctions 1 and 4 though, and in 2000 work began on upgrading the 2-lane M2 to 4-lanes. A joint venture between Constain, Skanska and Mowlem (CSM) created the company that would undertake the project. The project required the redesign of Junction 2 and Junction 3, and a second Medway Bridge. The existing bridge was converted to a 4-lane, eastbound carriageway (including a hard shoulder). The new bridge formed the westbound carriageway. The entire stretch was lit with streetlights (the old section was not lit). The old Medway Bridge was physically narrowed by removing part of the footpath that was a feature on it. High-pressure water cutting equipment was used to cut the concrete into manageable sections for disposal although, the footpaths were not lost on either side, there is only one path open to public now.

Spoil from the North Downs Tunnel was used to from the new embankment for the London bound traffic between J2 and the Nashenden Valley.

The widening was completed in July 2003^[3].

[edit] Junctions

M2 Motorway
Westbound exits	Junction	Eastbound exits
Road continues as A2 to London	J1	Rochester A2 Gillingham, Grain A289
Grain, Rochester A289	J1	Start of Motorway
Rochester, West Malling A228	J2	Rochester, West Malling A228
Maidstone, Chatham, Rochester A229	J3	Maidstone, Chatham A229 Channel Tunnel (M20)
Gillingham A278	J4	Gillingham A278
Medway Services
Maidstone, Sheerness A249 The WEST (M20, M25)	J5	Maidstone, Sittingbourne, Sheerness A249
Faversham, Ashford A251	J6	Faversham, Ashford A251
Start of Motorway	J7	Canterbury, Dover, Channel Tunnel A2
Canterbury, Channel Tunnel, Dover, Faversham A2	J7	Road continues as A299* to Ramsgate*

[edit] Trivia

The Channel Tunnel Rail Link also crosses the River Medway on its own bridge right next to the M2. This work was finished in 2003.

[edit] See also

List of motorways in the United Kingdom

[edit] References

[edit] External links

	Motorways in the United Kingdom
Great Britain: M1 • M2 • M3 • M4 • M5 • M6 • M6 Toll • M8 • M9 • M10 • M11 • M18 • M20 • M23 • M25 • M26 • M27 • M32 • M40 • M42 • M45 • M48 • M49 • M50 • M53 • M54 • M55 • M56 • M57 • M58 • M60 • M61 • M62 • M65 • M66 • M67 • M69 • M73 • M74 • M77 • M80 • M90 • M180 • M181 • M271 • M275 • M602 • M606 • M621 • M876 • M898
A1(M) • A3(M) • A38(M) • A48(M) • A57(M) • A58(M) A64(M) • A66(M) • A74(M) • A167(M) • A194(M) • A308(M) • A329(M) • A404(M) • A601(M) • A627(M) • A823(M)

	Northern Ireland: M1 • M2 • M3 • M5 • M12 • M22 • A8(M)	edit

Past: M41 • M63 • A18(M) • A40(M) • A41(M) • A102(M) • A6144(M) Unbuilt: M12 • M15 • M64 Future: M4 Toll