For the expressway in Switzerland, see A2 (Switzerland). An expressway is a divided highway, usually 4 lanes or wider in size, where direct access to adjacent properties has been eliminated. ... The A2 motorway in Ticino, suspended over viaducts The A2 motorway is a motorway in Switzerland. ...

The A2 is a major road in England, connecting London with the English Channel port of Dover in Kent. That route has always been of importance, since it is along it that continental Europe can be reached, either for business or pleasure. Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population - Total (mid-2004) - Density Ranked 1st UK 50. ... Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the most populous city in the European Union, with an estimated population on 1 January 2005 of 7,421,328 and a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 14 million. ... Satellite view of the English Channel The English Channel, also for some time known as the British Sea (French: La Manche, the sleeve) is the part of the Atlantic Ocean that separates the island of Great Britain from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. ... Arms of Dover Borough Council This article is about the English port. ... Kent is a county in England, south-east of London. ... A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is the worlds second-smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ...

History of the route

The original A2 route roughly followed the route of a Roman road, called centuries later Watling Street. It was one of the most important Roman roads in Britain, since it linked London with Canterbury , and from there to three Channel ports: Richborough (Rutupiae); Dover (Dubris) and Lympne (Lemanis). The road had river crossings at Rochester over the River Medway; Dartford (River Darent) and Crayford (River Cray). It continued in use long after the Romans departed in the 5th century. Principal sites in Roman Britain Roman Britain is the term applied to that part of Britain lying within the Roman Empire (which never extended to the whole island). ... Watling Street was a Roman road which went from Dover on the southeast coast of England and is generally believed to have terminated at Viroconium (now Wroxeter in Shropshire). ... Location within the British Isles St Peters St, Canterbury, from the West Gate, 1993 Canterbury is a cathedral city in the county of Kent in southeast England. ... Map sources for Richborough at grid reference TR3361 Richborough is a settlement just north of Sandwich on the east coast of the English county of Kent. ... Lympne (pronounced limm) village is situated on the once sea cliffs above the Romney Marsh in Kent. ... Rochester is a small town in Kent, at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway about 30 miles (50 km) from London. ... The River Medway in England flows for 112 km from Turners Hill, in West Sussex, through Tonbridge, Maidstone and Rochester in Kent, to the River Thames at Sheerness. ... Dartford is the principal town in the borough of Dartford. ... The confluence of the River Darent (left) and the River Cray (right) on Crayford Marshes. ... Crayford is a town in the London Borough of Bexley that was an important bridging point in Roman times across the River Cray, a tributary of the River Thames. ... The confluence of the River Darent (left) and the River Cray (right) on Crayford Marshes. ...

By the 17th century the road, like most roads in Britain, had fallen into disrepair, although the bridge at Rochester remained in good condition, since it was controlled by the Bridge Wardens. Turnpike Acts began to be passed by Parliament, as a result of which such roads were opened piecemeal: the section of what is now the A2 between Gravesend and Rochester was turnpiked in 1712; that between Chatham and Canterbury in 1730. The road from there to Dover was not turnpiked until early in the 19th century. A high-speed toll booth on SR 417 near Orlando, Florida A toll gate on the Sayama bypass (Saitama prefectural road 397) in Japan A toll gate on the Dom Pedro I Highway near the city of Itatiba, Brazil A toll road, turnpike or tollpike is a road on which... The Houses of Parliament, seen over Westminster Bridge The σParliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories (it alone has parliamentary sovereignty). ... Gravesend can refer to: Gravesend, Kent, England Gravesend, New York, USA This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Location within the British Isles Chatham is an English town that developed around an important naval dockyard on the east bank of the River Medway in the county of Kent. ...

In the 1920s, when British roads were allocated numbers, the road became the principal road in the south-eastern section of Britain. Its original alignment closely followed the Roman roads to Dover.

The route today

The influence of the Roman alignment can clearly be seen on a map: the straightness of many long stretches in particular. The route taken is as follows:

• Borough: the original road probably used the old London Bridge to reach this point in southeast London.
• Great Dover Street to Bricklayers Arms flyover, where it becomes Old Kent Road
• New Cross Road; Deptford Broadway; crossing River Ravensbourne at Deptford Bridge; Blackheath Hill;
• Blackheath (Shooters Hill): here was the point where highwaymen thrived in the 17th/18th centuries.
  • From here the erstwhile A2 continued following the Watling Street alignment. Today the section through Welling, Bexleyheath, Crayford and Dartford, in parts called Watling Street, is renumbered as A207 to Dartford; A226 beyond there. The section through Dartford town centre has a ring road, and is pedestrian-only. After climbing East Hill from Dartford, the old route becomes the B2200 (Watling Street), which, at Swanscombe joins the following road, now the A2.
  • The "new" A2; from now until Canterbury is reached, the road reverts to the Roman alignment:
    • Sun-in-the Sands Junction, where the A102(M) comes from the Blackwall Tunnel, there is an interchange; the motorway becomes the Rochester Way Relief Road, opened in 1988 between here and Falconwood to bypass Eltham.
    • From Falconwood the road was, in the 1960s, a single carriageway arterial road. In 1969 it was extended eastwards as the East Rochester Way and then the Dartford Bypass, becoming a dual carriageway, three-lane road. From here the A2 trunk road (opened in 1922/3) - bypassing Gravesend - was widened in 1962; further works have recently (2004) been undertaken in the Cobham area at the A2/M2 motorway interchange.
• from the above interchange the road passes through the Medway Towns: Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham and Rainham before open country is reached.
• at Sittingbourne the road bypasses the town centre; at Faversham the road passes to the south. The stretch from Chatham has been almost perfectly straight: the Roman base of the road again.
• here the M2 re-enters the A2, which becomes dual carriageway from now on. The first stretch bypasses several villages, including Dunkirk.
• At Harbledown the Canterbury bypass takes traffic to Bridge. From now the road is designated A2 (T)
  • The original A2, now the A2050, takes traffic to Canterbury, although the main road encircles the city walls
• The final section of the road, bypassing more villages, brings the A2(T) to Lydden. Here the Roman road passed direct to the port of Dover; the new bypass turns to the west and brings traffic in sweeping curve to the town and port.

The A2 is also a major road in Northern Ireland. It runs around the coast of the province, from the border just west of Derry (Londonderry) to Newry, via Limavady, Coleraine, Portrush, Bushmills, Ballycastle, Larne, Carrickfergus, Belfast, Bangor, Portaferry and Newcastle. A borough is a local government administrative subdivision used in the Canadian province of Quebec, in some states of the United States, and formerly in New Zealand. ... The current London Bridge, viewed from the south-west London Bridge is a bridge over the River Thames, between the City of London and Southwark. ... Overpass in East Potomac Park, Washington, D.C. Flyover in Miami Beach, Florida An overpass (In UK, most Commonwealth countries flyover) is a bridge, road or similar structure that crosses over another road. ... Old Kent Road is a road in south London. ... The River Ravensbourne is a tributary of the River Thames. ... Blackheath is a place in London, divided between the London Borough of Lewisham and the London Borough of Greenwich. ... Shooters Hill is a place in the London Borough of Greenwich in south-east London. ... Folk image of a mounted highwayman Highwayman was a term used particularly in Britain during the 17th and 18th centuries to describe criminals who robbed people travelling by stagecoach and other modes of transport along public highways. ... Welling is a district in the London Borough of Bexley. ... Bexleyheath is a place in the London Borough of Bexley. ... Crayford is a town in the London Borough of Bexley that was an important bridging point in Roman times across the River Cray, a tributary of the River Thames. ... Dartford is the principal town in the borough of Dartford. ... Swanscombe is a village, part of the Borough of Dartford on the north Kent coast in England. ... The Blackwall Tunnel is the name given to a pair of road tunnels underneath the River Thames in east London, linking the London Borough of Greenwich with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. ... Falconwood is a suburban area to the west of, and part of, Welling in the London Borough of Bexley. ... Eltham is a place in south-east London in the London Borough of Greenwich, UK. It originally developed along part of the road from London to Maidstone and lies three miles almost due south of Woolwich (Mottingham, to the south, was originally part of the parish - explaining why Eltham College... Gravesend can refer to: Gravesend, Kent, England Gravesend, New York, USA This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Cobham is a small village with a reputation for being still relatively unspoilt even today. ... There are also M2 motorways in Northern Ireland and Australia The M2 motorway is a motorway in England. ... The Medway Towns is the name given to a conurbation located to the north of Kent in England: until 1998 it was part of that county (see below). ... Location within the British Isles. ... Rochester is a small town in Kent, at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway about 30 miles (50 km) from London. ... Location within the British Isles Chatham is an English town that developed around an important naval dockyard on the east bank of the River Medway in the county of Kent. ... Location within the British Isles. ... Rainham is a town in the Medway unitary authority in South East England. ... Sittingbourne is an industrial town about eight miles (12. ... Location within the British Isles Faversham is a town in Kent, England, in the district of Swale. ... Dunkirk is a village between Faversham and Canterbury in England Category: ... Harbledown is a village to the west of Canterbury, Kent, now contiguous with the city and in effect a suburb. ... Lydden is a race circuit in the south of the UK ... Royal motto: Quis separabit (Latin: Who will separate?) Northern Irelands location within the UK Official languages English, Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Area  - Total Ranked 4th 13,843 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 4th 1,685,267 122/km² NUTS 1... Derry or Londonderry (in Irish, Doire or Doire Cholm Chille), often called the Maiden City, is a city in Northern Ireland. ... Newry (Irish: Iúr Chinn Trá) is the third largest city in Northern Ireland, and seventh in all-Ireland. ... Limavady is a town in County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. ... Arms of Coleraine Coleraine (Cúil Raithin in Irish) is a town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland at the mouth of the river Bann. ... Portrush (Port Rois in Irish) is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, beside the border with County Londonderry. ... Bushmills is a town on the north coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. ... Ballycastle (Baile an Chaistil in Irish) is a small town in County Antrim in Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom. ... Larne (Latharna in Irish which means the lands of Lathar who was an Irish prince) is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland with a population of approximately 31,000 people. ... Carrickfergus (Carraig Fhearghais, meaning Rock of Fergus, in Irish) is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. ... Belfast (Béal Feirste in Irish) is a city in the United Kingdom, and the second-largest city on the island of Ireland. ... Portaferry (Port an Pheire in Irish) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland, lying on Strangford Lough. ...

For photographs of the areas the A2 travels through visit this link http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/index1a.html