The M2 is a long motorway in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and was built to bypass a section of the A2 road in Kent, which goes through the

Medway Towns Medway is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Kent in South East England. It was formed in 1998 by merging the boroughs of City of Roche ...

, Sittingbourne, and

Faversham Faversham () is a market town in Kent, England, from Sittingbourne, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2 road (Great ...

. It provides an alternative route to the Port of Dover, which supplements the

M20 motorway The M20 is a Controlled-access highway, motorway in Kent, England. It follows on from the A20 road (England), A20 at Swanley, meeting the M25 motorway, M25, and continuing on to Folkestone, providing a link to the Channel Tunnel and the ports a ...

located further to the south. The terminal junctions of the M2 intersect with the A2, which come together to form a long

trunk road A trunk road is a major highway with a specific legal classification in some jurisdictions, notably the United Kingdom, Sweden and formerly Ireland. Trunk roads are planned and managed at the national-level, distinguishing them from non-trunk ro ...

from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast 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 southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

Route

The M2 starts west of Strood, diverging towards the

southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

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 A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

of the

River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...

, 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 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 east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...

) 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 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 Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Areas of Outstanding Natural Be ...

, 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 The A249 is a road in Kent, England, running from Maidstone to Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey. It mainly functions as a link between the M2 motorway (Great Britain), M2 and M20 motorway, M20 motorways, and for goods vehicle traffic to the ...

, which serves Sittingbourne,

Sheerness Sheerness () is a port town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 13,249, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby ...

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

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 Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

() and

(), and lane 2 feeding onto the A299 road, commonly known as the Thanet Way, which continues onwards to

Whitstable Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent, England, at the convergence of the The Swale, Swale and the Greater Thames Estuary, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay, Kent, Herne Bay. The town, formerly known as Whitstable-on-Se ...

(),

Herne Bay Herne Bay is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in South East England. It is north of Canterbury and east of Whitstable. It neighbours the ancient villages of Herne, Kent, Herne and Reculver and is part of the City of Canterbury loca ...

(),

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...

() and

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

().

History

Original construction

The initial section of the M2 between J2 and J5 was opened by the then Transport Minister Ernest Marples on 29 May 1963, and the remainder of the M2 (J1–J2 and J5–J7) was opened in 1965. It was initially referred to as the Medway Towns Motor Road when it was opened, but has been referred to by different names in some official sources.

Planned extension

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. 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. 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 Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

; it replaced a single-carriageway three-lane road. Each carriageway had three lanes, with hard shoulders (hardened verge), with four grade-separated junctions. Leonard Fairclough & Son constructed the bridges. The new dual three-lane A2 section was opened at noon on Friday 29 July 1966, with the

Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester, Kent, Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Rochester Cathedral, Cathedral Chur ...

, David Say, who said a prayer, and George Harris, the managing director of Monk Ltd.

Numbering

During planning, the number assigned for the route was the A2(M). However, a ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'' 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 A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

assigned the M2 number to the route, while a new number, the M20 was reserved for a route between London and the Channel Ports.

J1 improvements

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 A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''English alphabet#Letter names, a'' (pronounced ), plural ...

to the north of J1 resulted in J1 being reconfigured from a fork configuration to a fork-

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

hybrid.

Service area

The M2 opened with a single service area between junctions 4 and 5, named Farthing Corner services and operated by Top Rank. Today the services are known as Medway services. 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. This has led to local businesses using the services as an unofficial exit from the motorway.

Widening

While traffic using the M2 decreased when the M20 motorway was completed from London to

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal 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, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

in May 1991, traffic heading into North Kent remained, and congestion along the route was increasing, primarily due to heavy goods vehicles blocking the outside lane. 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.

J5 improvements

From September 2021,

National Highways National Highways (NH), formerly Highways England and before that the Highways Agency, is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving Roads in England, motorways and major A roads in Eng ...

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. Works to realign the slip roads leading from the A249 to the eastbound carriageway were completed in January 2023. New local road links are also being built as part of the scheme. The entire scheme was completed in February 2025.

Junctions

{, 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",

, rowspan="2", Strood , 27.0
27.5 , 43.4
44.3 , 1 , -

, Dartford Crossing
- Gillingham , Road continues West as A2 to London , - , 28.8
29.0 , 46.3
46.6 , 2 , - Rochester, West Malling , , - , Chatham , 32.6
32.8 , 52.4
52.8 , 3 , - Chatham, Rochester,

, , - , Gillingham , 36.4
36.5 , 58.5
58.8 , 4 , - Gillingham , , - , Rainham , , , Services , Medway services , , - , Stockbury , 40.4
40.3 , 64.4
64.9 , 5 , - Sittingbourne,

, , - , rowspan="2",

, 50.6
50.8 , 81.5
81.8 , 6 , -

, Ashford , , - , 52.3
52.6 , 84.2
84.7 , 7 , -

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...

, Road continues as A299 to Ramsgate 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

References

External links

*CBRD
Motorway Database – M2

Media – Photos Of the Medway Viaduct Under Construction

Histories – Opening Booklets, including M2
{{DEFAULTSORT:2-0002m Motorways in England Roads in Kent