The A20 is a major road in south-east

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, carrying traffic from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. Parts of the route date back to

turnpike Turnpike often refers to: * A type of gate, another word for a turnstile * In the United States, a toll road Turnpike may also refer to: Roads United Kingdom * A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...

s established in the early part of the 18th century. The line of the road throughout Kent runs closely in parallel with the

M20 motorway The M20 is a motorway in Kent, England. It follows on from the A20 at Swanley, meeting the M25, and continuing on to Folkestone, providing a link to the Channel Tunnel and the ports at Dover. It is long. Although not signposted in England, ...

Route

From London to the M25

Traffic leaving London at first takes the A2 road; at

New Cross New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich, ...

in the

London Borough of Lewisham Lewisham () is a London borough in south-east London; it forms part of Inner London. The principal settlement of the borough is Lewisham. The local authority is Lewisham London Borough Council, based in Catford. The Prime Meridian passes throug ...

the A20 begins and heads in a south-easterly direction, becoming in turn ''Lewisham Way'' and '' Loampit Vale''. The latter road forms a large junction, where the A21 separates for

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

. The road now runs through ''Lee High Road'' into ''Eltham Road'', The junction with the A210 has an unusually long 41 metre yellow

box junction A box junction is a road traffic control measure designed to prevent congestion and gridlock at junctions. The surface of the junction is typically marked with a yellow criss-cross grid of diagonal painted lines (or only two lines crossing eac ...

. and continues as the ''Sidcup Bypass'', crossing the A222 at Frognal Corner and the A224 at Crittall's Corner. Entering Kent, it widens from two lanes to three lanes near

Swanley Swanley is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England, southeast of central London, adjacent to the Greater London boundary and within the M25 motorway periphery. The population at the 2011 census was 16,226. History I ...

and continues onto the

Junctions

The main junctions on the London to M25 section are: *New Cross one-way system (the road starts here and branches from the A2) *Lewisham Gateway (with the A21, A2210 and A2211) *Sutcliffe Park (with the A210 to Eltham) - the road becomes a dual carriageway east of this junction *Clifton's Roundabout (with the A205 South Circular) *Fiveways, New Eltham (with the B263); this is the last at-grade junction heading out of London *Frognal Corner (with the A222) *Crittall's Corner (with the A223 and A224) *Swanley Interchange (M25 Junction 3 / M20 Junction 1)

The M25 to Dover

The A20 then passes the racing circuit at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...

before descending steeply from the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills a ...

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...

past

Wrotham Wrotham ( ) is a village on the Pilgrims' Way in Kent, England, at the foot of the North Downs. It is north of Borough Green and approximately east of Sevenoaks. It is between the M20 and M26 motorways. History The name first occurs as ''U ...

then

West Malling West Malling ( , historically Town Malling) is a market town in the Tonbridge and Malling district of Kent, England. It has a population of 2,590. Landmarks West Malling contains several historic buildings, including St Leonard's Tower, a Norma ...

and on to the county town of

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

. The route beyond Maidstone travels East, through the villages of

Bearsted Bearsted ( , ) is a village and civil parish with railway station in mid-Kent, England, two miles (3.2 km) east of Maidstone town centre. Geography The village was historically concentrated around Church Lane and The Green which includes ...

Harrietsham Harrietsham is a rural and industrial village and civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England noted in the Domesday Book. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, it had a population of 1,504, increasing to 2,113 at the 2011 Cen ...

Lenham Lenham is a market village and civil parish in Kent situated on the southern edge of the North Downs, east of Maidstone. The picturesque square in the village has two public houses (one of which is a hotel), a couple of restaurants, and a tea ...

and

Charing Charing is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, in south-east England. It includes the settlements of Charing Heath and Westwell Leacon. It is located at the foot of the North Downs and reaches up to the escarpment. T ...

to Ashford. The A292 takes over the former A20 through Ashford itself, then the road emerges as it heads through

Willesborough Willesborough is a village, now in effect a residential suburb, on the eastern side of Ashford, Kent, England. The area The South Willesborough Dykes area, on the west bank of the River East Stour, is an area of sheep fields drained by dykes. ...

and

Sellindge Sellindge is a civil parish and village on the A20 road between Ashford and Folkestone in Kent, South East England. Sellindge is part of North Downs West Ward of Folkestone and Hythe District Council but part of the Elham ward of Kent County ...

in the direction of

Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a village in Canada England * T ...

. It takes a sharp turn left at Newingreen (the site of the UK's first

motel A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionaries ...

) before entering

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

via Cheriton, passing the vehicular entrance to the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...

, forming part of the town's original bypass as the trunk road from the M20. The route then follows the coastline, tunnelling through the hills and descending to the

dock A dock (from Dutch language, Dutch ''dok'') is the area of water between or next to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore) or such structures themselves. The ex ...

s in Dover, where it meets the A2 again coming down from

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

History

Part of the route now followed by the modern road, particularly the western section, was opened as various turnpikes in the 18th century in an effort to improve coaching links between London and the Kent towns. In the early days of the

Great Britain road numbering scheme The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Great Britain. Each road is given a single letter (which represents the road's category) and a subsequent number (between 1 and 4 digits) ...

the A20 ran through

Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of Elt ...

. along Eltham Road the

Sidcup Sidcup is an area of south-east London, England, primarily in the London Borough of Bexley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, bordering the London Boroughs of Bromley and Greenwich. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the ...

Arterial Road An arterial road or arterial thoroughfare is a high-capacity urban road that sits below freeways/motorways on the road hierarchy in terms of traffic flow and speed. The primary function of an arterial road is to deliver traffic from collector ro ...

begins, opened in 1923, which carries traffic south of the two towns instead, leaving the A210 and A211 roads following the original route. The nearby town of Swanley was bypassed in 1968, and the short link between the two bypasses was constructed in 1988 (to the south of the Ruxley Corner roundabout). Roundhill Tunnels - geograph

A section of the A20 in Ashford formed part of the Ashford By-Pass, a dual carriageway opened in 1957, which used to run from what is now the roundabout with Simone Weil Avenue to the Willesborough roundabout. Simone Weil Avenue is the original A20 bypass, but has been diverted to curtail at Canterbury Road. The eastern end of the old by-pass is now the M20. The section between Maidstone and Ashford was the only link between the two separate sections of the M20 for 10 years during the 1980s, until the ''missing link'' of the motorway was completed in May 1991. North of Folkestone the M20 becomes a dual carriageway and enters the Roundhill Tunnel before crossing over and dropping down into Dover. This part of the A20 was completed in 1993 as a project included in the Parliamentary Bill for the Channel Tunnel. During 2011, structural failures in and around the Roundhill Tunnel have caused the A20 to be closed in this area numerous times.

References

External links

SABRE: A20
{{DEFAULTSORT:2-0020 Transport in the Borough of Ashford Transport in the London Borough of Bexley Streets in the London Borough of Bromley Streets in the London Borough of Lewisham Roads in Kent Roads in London