When was the m2 motorway built

On the wet morning of November 10, , there was a nasty coach crash on the M2 as the vehicle headed towards Canterbury.

But excitement turned to tragedy when the coach careered off the motorway and down an embankment, killing 10 and injuring 34, at Ospringe, near Faversham. Nine American tourists and the driver were killed, while 34 others were injured. Trapped passengers, many of them who had not been wearing seatbelts, screamed as firefighters battled to cut them from the wreckage. Almost all the injured were taken by ambulance or helicopter to nearby hospitals.

In February , a huge 15ft deep hole caused chaos after opening up on the M2. The incident closed the motorway completely between Faversham and Sittingbourne while it was assessed. The Highways Agency revealed the chasm near Faversham was a Dene-hole rather than what was widely believed to have been a sinkhole. It took another nine days after the hole swallowed up part of the the road surface for it to be stabilised and declared safe so the motorway could fully reopen.

It had been talked about for years, but in June , a new junction off the M2 between Sittingbourne and Faversham looked finally to be on its way.

But in , it had still not been built and new plans emerged for the junction which would be near to the Kent Science Park KSP , which was also being lined up for an expansion.

The proposals for the new scheme would have seen hectares of commercial space added to the site, a new junction 5a on the M2 to access KSP and a Southern Relief Road constructed to join the M2 to the A2.

But by August this year, the junction had still not been built and it was revealed a new bid could be discussed in government circles after an MP called for a meeting. Gordon Henderson asked Transport Minister Grant Shapps to discuss the plans, but just over 10 days later, the idea was snubbed by Mr Shapps, when special advisors to the minister rejected the idea of a meeting.

In April , a senior Swale council officer warned the M2 should be widened between Sittingbourne and Faversham as a matter of urgency.

To date, the stretch has not been widened. However, in June , plans for a revamped Stockbury Roundabout were unveiled. Highways England announced that it has published the necessary orders to allow it to make the multi-million pound changes to the A's junction with the M2 at junction 5 for Sittingbourne, Sheppey and Maidstone.

The scheme includes a new flyover for A traffic, which highways bosses say "will create an uninterrupted link for drivers staying on the dual carriageway and will free up extra space on the roundabout". In July this year, it was announced some of the money for the project has been secured and a new date had been set for a public inquiry. A month-long consultation was launched by Kent County Council KCC for three designs to revamp junctions on the A at the Maidstone end - junction 6 of the M20 - and the northern end on the edge of Medway - junction 3 of the M2.

The Blue Bell Hill junction, option one upgrade includes upgrading the Lord Lees and Taddington roundabouts at the M2 junction and removing the link between the Bridgewood and Lord Lees roundabouts.

A direct slip road between the A and the M2 towards London is proposed, a through lane from the coast-bound M2 to the A as well as creating a separate left-turn lane from the M2 to the A and widening the link road to four lanes.

The second option proposes less work to the Lord Lees and Taddington roundabouts - but keeping the new London-bound slip road from the A and left-turn lane from the M2. And a proposal to extend the Bridgewood roundabout and Rochester Road junction with a new slip road from the M2 which would continue straight onto the A It would also see the south-bound slip road on the A to the Lord Lees roundabout closed with a new merge road creating access to the roundabout.

To read more interesting in depth features, click here. What's for dinner? Plan meals, try new foods and explore cuisines with tested recipes from the country's top chefs. The film opens with shots of a congested road; drivers get out of their cars to wander around and fix engines; a lady sells items from a tray.

Shots of diggers and trucks shifting soil on the route of the M2 motorway; heavy plant equipment is used to excavate chalk along the length of the Blue Bell Hill cutting. Hardcore is laid to form the basis of a road surface; shots of a bridge under construction followed by aerial shots from a helicopter flying along the route of the road; the surrounding rolling green hills and fields are in stark contrast to the roadworks cutting through them.

Close-ups of men operating machinery; shots of a fly-over; sign: "Laing". A train emerges from under a bridge being built.

Shots of Medway Bridge in the distance, sections of which are under construction. Tarmac is laid with the help of a diesel-powered roller. On the east bank is the village of Borstal. Here the road narrows to three lanes, and runs northeast across Cossington Fields, Westfield Sole, Lidsing , and Bredhurst towards Junction 4, where it becomes two lanes. 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 A towards Thanet which joins a dual carriage way or the A2 towards Canterbury and Dover which has been improved due to bypasses and other improvements as far as Lydden.

The initial section of the motorway junctions 2 to 5 was opened by the then Transport Minister Ernest Marples on 29 May , [1] with the remainder being constructed in It was opened in three stages: [2]. It was planned to extend the M2 to London and Dover, making it the main route between London and the channel ports, but this extension never materialised due to a lack of traffic demand.

The M2 was originally to be designated as the A2 M , but as a result of the Daily Telegraph reporting it as the M2, the Ministry of Transport adopted this, and later decided upon the M20 designation for the main London-Channel Ports link. Aside from retrofitting central crash barriers, like all early motorways, the alignment of the M2 did not significantly change until the late s. Traffic using it decreased when the M20 was completed from London to Folkestone in May , [8] while the M2 continued to Canterbury and the North Kent ports of Sheerness and Ramsgate.

Junction 1 was altered when the A Wainscott Northern bypass was built in the late s. The project required the redesign of Junction 2 and Junction 3, and a second Medway Bridge. The existing bridge was converted to a four lane eastbound carriageway including a hard shoulder. The new bridge formed the westbound carriageway.