M2 motorway (Great Britain)

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.

Route

Junction 2 of the M2, the roundabout on the A228, showing the motorway crossing the Medway and climbing up the Nashenden Valley. Alongside is High Speed 1.

Junction 5 of the M2

The M2 starts to the west of Strood at Three Crutches, diverging southeastwards from the A2 road that heads eastwards from London. It begins at junction 1 with four lanes. It then descends towards the Medway Valley to the south of Rochester. Running parallel to High Speed 1, it crosses the River Medway on the Medway Viaduct. On the west bank, Junction 2, the A228, is a complex junction where the exit roundabouts have to be built round the raillink track and still maintain, by footbridge and tunnel, a public footpath. On the east bank is the village of Borstal.The M2 then diverges from the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, climbs up north side Nashenden Valley to Blue Bell Hill and on to the North Downs on a split-level carriageway and meets junction 3 at Walderslade, south of Chatham. Here the road narrows to three lanes, and runs northeast across Crossington Fields, Westfield Sole, Lidsing, and Bredhurst towards junction 4, where it becomes two lanes. Continuing east, passing Medway Service Station, it crosses the A249 over the Stockbury Viaduct at junction 5. It then continues along the rural North Downs, with a connection to the old A2 at Faversham. Shortly after this, it terminates at junction 7, allowing traffic to continue on either the A299 towards Thanet or the A2 towards Canterbury and Dover.

History

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:

• 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 later decided upon the M20 as the main London-Channel Ports link. . [1]

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.

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 Costain, 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. High-pressure water cutting equipment was used to cut the concrete into manageable sections for disposal. There is only one path open to the 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.

Service stations

There is one dedicated service station under the Moto brand with a "Travelodge" hotel between junction 4 and 5. This service station is now known as "Medway Services" although it long went under the local name "Farthing Corner Services". The signs have been altered to reflect the new description.

Junctions

M2 Motorway
Westbound exits	Junction	Eastbound exits
Road continues as A2 to London	J1	Rochester A2 Gillingham, Grain A289 Non-motorway traffic
Grain, Rochester A289		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, Gatwick Airport)	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 Non-motorway traffic		Road continues as A299 (Thanet Way) to Ramsgate

See also

• List of motorways in the United Kingdom

External links

• CBRD
  • Motorway Database - M2
  • Media - Photos Of the Medway Viaduct Under Construction
  • Histories - Opening Booklets, including M2
• Photographs of the Medway Viaduct From Its Public Footpath
• Photographs of the M2 between Junctions 5 and 7
• The Motorway Archive - M2