M2 motorway (Great Britain)

The M2 starts west of Strood, diverging towards the southeast away from the A2 road. Between J1 and J2, the M2 is four lanes in width, and slopes down into the Medway Valley south of Rochester. J2 is located to the northwest of the left bank of the River Medway, linking the A228 road to the M2, which runs between Strood and West Malling. The junction is in a dumbbell configuration, with a short spur of the A228 providing access to the junction. The M2 drops to three lanes throughout the junction, but returns to a width of four lanes after the junction.

After J2, the motorway passes over the wide Medway Valley via the Medway Viaducts alongside HS1, with the North Downs Way running alongside the eastbound carriageway of the M2 here. It passes over the Medway Valley railway and the aforementioned river. After the viaduct, the M2 runs past the Wouldham marshes and the suburbs of the Medway Towns, which include Borstal, which is well renowned for being the village where HM Prison Rochester is located, and which lends its generic name to institutions for young offenders.

Prior to J3, the M2 ascends a steep valley up to Blue Bell Hill, with the two carriageways on different levels. At J3, the carriageways of the M2 return to the same level and the motorway meets the A229 road, which serves Maidstone) and Walderslade. The junction is in a unique configuration, whereby the M2 and A229 are linked by two grade-separated roundabouts, with the M2 reducing to a width of three lanes after the junction.

As the M2 continues to pass the Medway Towns, it runs along the northern escarpment of the North Downs, and goes past Lidsing and Bredhurst towards J4, where it meets the A278 road at a more conventional grade-separated roundabout junction, reducing to a width of two lanes afterwards.

After J4, traffic on the M2 is able to access a motorway service area named the Medway services, which leads up to J5 a few miles east of the services, where the M2 intersects with the A249 road, which serves Sittingbourne, Sheerness and Maidstone. The junction is in an unconventional grade-separated roundabout configuration, where the slip roads which lead to and from the M2 and roundabout are looped due to the considerable height of the viaduct which the M2 passes over the junction on. Since 2022 the Department of Transport has been undertaking a major reconstruction of the junction due for completion by Winter 2024.

After J5, the M2 runs for ten miles along the gentle lower slopes of the North Downs as it nears the coast. At J6, the M2 intersects with the A251 road, which serves Faversham one mile to the north and the town of Ashford 13 miles south. The junction is in a parclo configuration. After J6, the M2 ends at J7, which is another conventional grade-separated roundabout. The M2 splits into two lanes prior to ending at J7, with lane 1 heading onto the main roundabout rejoining the A2, which continues onwards to Canterbury ({{Convert|8|mi|4=0|disp=semicolon}}) and Dover ({{Convert|23|mi|4=0|disp=semicolon}}), and lane 2 feeding onto the A299 road, commonly known as the Thanet Way, which continues onwards to Whitstable ({{Convert|6|mi|4=0|disp=semicolon}}), Herne Bay ({{Convert|10|mi|4=0|disp=semicolon}}), Margate ({{Convert|23|mi|4=0|disp=semicolon}}) and Ramsgate ({{Convert|27|mi|4=0|disp=semicolon}}).

File:MedwayM2BridgeCloud0169.JPG.]]

File:M2 motorway junction 5.jpg

File:M2 Motorway, Kent - 010613.jpg

The initial section of the M2 between J2 and J5 was opened by the then Transport Minister Ernest Marples on 29 May 1963,{{cite web|url=http://www.highways.gov.uk/news/press-releases/golden-anniversary-for-the-m2/|title=Golden anniversary for the M2|publisher=Highways Agency|access-date=29 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130831230251/http://www.highways.gov.uk/news/press-releases/golden-anniversary-for-the-m2/|archive-date=31 August 2013|url-status=dead}} and the remainder of the M2 (J1–J2 and J5–J7) was opened in 1965.{{cite web |title=Motorway Database – M2 Timeline |url=http://www.cbrd.co.uk/motorway/m2/timeline.shtml |url-status=dead |publisher=CBRD |access-date=27 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070212023335/http://www.cbrd.co.uk/motorway/m2/timeline.shtml |archive-date=12 February 2007}} It was initially referred to as the Medway Towns Motor Road[https://www.roads.org.uk/sites/default/files/articles/opening-booklets/m2motorway.pdf M2 Motorway] roads.org.uk when it was opened, but has been referred to by different names in some official sources.{{Cite web|url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1979-03-09/debates/8409b066-ea8a-448d-8d37-0ad508f5fcee/Ramsgate(DirectionSigns)|title=Ramsgate (Direction Signs) - Hansard - UK Parliament}}

It was planned to extend the M2 to London and Dover, which would have made it the main route between London and the Channel Ports, but this extension never materialised due to a lack of traffic demand.{{cite web |last=Heseltine |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Heseltine |title=M2, Dover |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1970/jul/15/m2-dover |date=15 July 1970 |work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) |access-date=18 September 2012}} Instead, the A2 was mostly dualled and improved from Brenley Corner to Dover, with separate improvements being carried out on the A2 between London and Strood.{{cite web |last=Heseltine |first=Michael |title=M2 Motorway (Brenley Corner – Dover) |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1970/jul/15/m2-motorway-brenley-corner-dover |date=15 July 1970 |work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) |access-date=18 December 2012}}{{cite web |last=Heseltine |first=Michael |title=M2 Motorway (Extension) |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1970/dec/16/m2-motorway-extension |date=16 December 1970 |work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) |access-date=18 December 2012}}

The subsequent Strood to Swanscombe dualling, towards London, of the improved A2, was constructed from 1 June 1964, being seven miles, with a contract of £4,436,869 given to A. Monk Ltd of Padgate, near Warrington; it replaced a single-carriageway three-lane road. Each carriageway had three lanes, with hard shoulders (hardened verge), with four grade-separated junctions.Tonbridge Free Press Friday 24 April 1964, page 5 Leonard Fairclough & Son constructed the bridges.Birmingham Daily Post Thursday 6 May 1965, page 26 The new dual three-lane A2 section was opened at noon on Friday 29 July 1966, with the Bishop of Rochester, David Say, who said a prayer, and George Harris, the managing director of Monk Ltd.Kent Messenger Friday 29 July 1966, page 2Kent Messenger Friday 5 August 1966, page 8

During planning, the number assigned for the route was the A2(M). However, a Daily Telegraph article published on 15 December 1959 erroneously referred to the route as the M2 rather than the A2(M), a number that had been reserved for a route between London and the Channel Ports. After the article was published, the Ministry of Transport assigned the M2 number to the route, while a new number, the M20 was reserved for a route between London and the Channel Ports.{{cite web|url=http://www.roads.org.uk/motorway/m2/ |title=Motorway Database » M2 |publisher=roads.org.uk |access-date=9 October 2023}}

Aside from retrofitting the central crash barriers along the M2, as happened with all early motorways in the UK, the M2 did not change significantly until the 1990s, when the construction of the A289 road to the north of J1 resulted in J1 being reconfigured from a fork configuration to a fork-trumpet hybrid.{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/2002/oct/21/new-road-schemes|title=New Road Schemes|date=21 October 2002|work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)|access-date=18 December 2012}}

The M2 opened with a single service area between junctions 4 and 5, named Farthing Corner services and operated by Top Rank.{{cite web |title=Motorways (catering facilities) |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1964/feb/17/motorways-catering-facilities#column_985 |date=17 February 1964 |work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) |access-date=18 December 2012}} Today the services are known as Medway services.{{cite book |last1=Chatterton |first1=Mark |title=Britain's Motorways |date=15 August 2022 |publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1-3981-1117-2 |page=23 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Britain_s_Motorways/79n-EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Medway+services%22+M2&pg=PR23&printsec=frontcover |language=en}}

The services have an access road to the local network for service and delivery vehicles that is not, as with some motorway service areas, restricted with a gate or barrier.{{cite web|url=https://www.google.co.uk/maps?ll=51.341531,0.604803&spn=0.001406,0.002411&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=51.341549,0.604704&panoid=QtUcs902--Blm6OSyGBXYg&cbp=12,105.25,,0,13.49|title=Google Maps: Medway Services (Streetview)|access-date=18 December 2012}} This has led to local businesses using the services as an unofficial exit from the motorway.{{cite web|url=http://www.hartlipplace.co.uk/Directions%20to%20hartlip%20Place.html|title=Directions to Hartlip Place|year=2008|access-date=18 December 2012}}

While traffic using the M2 decreased when the M20 motorway was completed from London to Folkestone in May 1991,{{cite web |title=Road Schemes |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1995/oct/16/road-schemes#column_77w |date=16 October 1995 |work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) |access-date=18 December 2012}} traffic heading into North Kent remained, and congestion along the route was increasing, primarily due to heavy goods vehicles blocking the outside lane.{{cite web |last=Clarke |first=Kenneth |author-link=Kenneth Clarke |title=M2 (Heavy Vehicles) |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1980/jul/22/m2-heavy-vehicles |date=22 July 1980 |work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) |access-date=18 December 2012}} This led to work beginning in 2000 on widening the M2 from two lanes to four lanes between J1 and J3, and three lanes between J3 and J4. A joint venture between Costain, Skanska and Mowlem (CSM) created the company which would complete the project, which required the redesign of J2 and J3, and the construction of a new viaduct next to the existing one over the Medway Valley. The existing viaduct was converted to the four-lane eastbound carriageway of the M2 seen today, with the new viaduct forming the westbound carriageway. High-pressure-water cutting equipment being used to cut concrete into manageable sections for disposal where necessary. The entire stretch was lit with streetlights in contrast to the previously unlit M2. Spoil from the North Downs Tunnel was used to form the new embankment for the westbound carriageway between J2 and the Nashenden Valley. The project was completed in July 2003.{{cite web |title=Route Description – A2/M2 and A249 (M2 to Sheppey) |url=http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/4028.aspx |publisher=Highways Agency |access-date=27 January 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060926071817/http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/4028.aspx |archive-date=26 September 2006}}

From September 2021, National Highways are carrying out improvements to J5 of the M2, which will involve the construction of a new flyover for A249 traffic heading through the junction and new slip-road connections between the M2 and the A249.{{cite web | url=https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-roads/south-east/m2-junction-5-improvements | title=M2 junction 5 improvements - National Highways | date=11 May 2020 }} Works to realign the slip roads leading from the A249 to the eastbound carriageway were completed in January 2023.{{cite web | url=https://www.kentonline.co.uk/sittingbourne/news/slip-road-reopens-after-four-month-closure-281286 | title=Slip road reopens after four-month closure | date=30 January 2023 }} New local road links are also being built as part of the scheme. The entire scheme is scheduled for completion in winter 2024.{{cite web |title=M2 junction 5 improvements |url=https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-roads/south-east/m2-junction-5-improvements/ |website=National Highways |access-date=23 September 2023}}

{| class="plainrowheaders wikitable"

|-

!scope=col|County

!scope=col|Location

!scope=col|mi

!scope=col|km

!scope=col|Junction

!scope=col|Destinations

!scope=col|Notes

|-

|rowspan="8"|Kent

|rowspan="2"|Strood

|27.0
27.5

|43.4
44.3

|1

{{coord|51.3995|0.4433|name=Junction 1 of the M2}}

|{{jct|country=GBR|A|2|dabl=England}}  - London, Dartford Crossing

{{jct|country=GBR|A|289|dabl=England}}  - Gillingham

|Road continues West as A2 to London

|-

|28.8
29.0

|46.3
46.6

|2

{{coord|51.3838|0.4680|name=Junction 2 of the M2}}

|{{jct|country=GBR|A|228|dabl=England}}  - Rochester, West Malling

|

|-

|Chatham

|32.6
32.8

|52.4
52.8

|3

{{coord|51.3373|0.5079|name=Junction 3 of the M2}}

|{{jct|country=GBR|A|229|dabl=England}}  - Chatham, Rochester, Maidstone

|

|-

|Gillingham

|36.4
36.5

|58.5
58.8

|4

{{coord|51.3362|0.5844|name=Junction 4 of the M2}}

|{{jct|country=GBR|A|278|dabl=England}}  - Gillingham

|

|-

|Rainham

|

|

|Services

{{coord|51.3412|0.6078|name=Medway services}}

|Medway services

|

|-

|Stockbury

|40.4
40.3

|64.4
64.9

|5

{{coord|51.3299|0.6623|name=Junction 5 of the M2}}

|{{jct|country=GBR|A|249|dabl=England}}  - Sittingbourne, Maidstone, Sheerness

|

|-

|rowspan="2"|Faversham

|50.6
50.8

|81.5
81.8

|6

{{coord|51.3006|0.8884|name=Junction 6 of the M2}}

|{{jct|country=GBR|A|251|dabl=England}}  - Faversham, Ashford

|

|-

|52.3
52.6

|84.2
84.7

|7

{{coord|51.3015|0.9254|name=Junction 7 of the M2}}

|{{jct|country=GBR|A|2|dabl=England}}  - Canterbury, Dover, Channel Tunnel

{{jct|country=GBR|A|299|dabl=England}}  - Margate, Ramsgate

|Road continues as A299 to Ramsgate

{{jctbtm|exit}}

Notes

• Distances in kilometres and carriageway identifiers are obtained from driver location signs/location marker posts. Where a junction spans several hundred metres and the data is available, both the start and finish values for the junction are shown.
• Coordinate data from ACME Mapper.

;Coordinate list

• List of motorways in the United Kingdom

{{reflist}}

{{OSM relation|13007542|M2 motorway|link=yes}}

{{GeoGroup}}

{{Attached KML|display=inline,title}}

• CBRD
• [http://www.cbrd.co.uk/motorway/m2/ Motorway Database – M2]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20061009150524/http://www.cbrd.co.uk/media/photo/gallery17.shtml Media – Photos Of the Medway Viaduct Under Construction]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20061201054436/http://www.cbrd.co.uk/histories/openingbooklets/ Histories – Opening Booklets, including M2]
• [https://archive.today/20070518161252/http://www.tony-frost.fotopic.net/c961972.html Photographs of the Medway Viaduct From Its Public Footpath]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060906043457/http://www.iht.org/motorway/m2medway.htm The Motorway Archive – M2]

{{UK motorways|state=collapsed}}

{{Motorways and Trunk Roads in England|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:2-0002m}}

Category:Motorways in England

Category:Roads in Kent