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| Route information | |
| Length | 18.6 mi (29.9 km) |
| Major junctions | |
| South end | Maidstone 51°16′13″N0°31′32″E / 51.2704°N 0.5255°E /51.2704; 0.5255 (A249 road (southwestern end)) |
| Major intersections |  M2 M20A2 A20  A229 A250 |
| North end | Sheerness 51°26′32″N0°45′26″E / 51.4422°N 0.7572°E /51.4422; 0.7572 (A249 road (northeastern end)) |
| Location | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Road network | |
TheA249 is a road inKent, England, running fromMaidstone toSheerness on theIsle of Sheppey. It mainly functions as a link between theM2 andM20 motorways, and for goods vehicle traffic to the port at Sheerness.
In 2006, an upgradeddual carriageway section opened betweenIwade andQueenborough, including a new fixed crossing overthe Swale. The existing liftingKingsferry Bridge was retained as an alternative route. On 5 September 2013, more than 100 vehicles were involved in an accident on the crossing.[1]
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The A249 begins close to Maidstone town centre, heading eastwards from the southboundA229 Lower Stone Street along first Mote Road and then alongWat Tyler Way. Due to Maidstone's one-way system, the westbound carriageway extends for a short way along Knightrider Street (towards theArchbishop's Palace, Maidstone) but then ends where it meets the northbound carriageway of the A229. At the top of Wat Tyler Way, where that road meets King Street, the A249 occupies a smallgyratory system that joins theA20 (heading east toAshford).
From there, the A249 heads north on Albion Place. This very quickly becomes theSittingbourne Road, which crosses over the railway line betweenMaidstone andBearsted. After passing Vinters Park, it reaches the north end of the town at the Chiltern Hundreds roundabout (named after the adjacentpub). This old route between Maidstone and Sittingbourne is broken, as the old Sittingbourne Road has become apark and ride facility. This break occurred during the 1990s, as the result of works to widen and upgrade the former A20(M) Maidstone Bypass section of theM20 to remove a bottleneck on the newly completed motorway.
Instead of that old course, the route now turns east onto theBearsted Road towardsGrove Green, becoming a dual carriageway, before turning north again just before Newnham Court Farm. There, the route crosses the M20, rejoining the Sittingbourne Road at the exit of the motorway roundabout. From this point onwards, the route becomesprimary.
The road then climbs up onto theNorth Downs viaDetling Hill, past the village ofDetling and crossing thePilgrim's Way andNorth Downs Way (betweenBoxley andThurnham). Just after the M20 junction, where it meets Pilgrim's Way, there is a footbridge calledJade's Crossing, named after a schoolgirl who died along with her grandmother in a road accident in 2000 whilst attempting to cross the busy road in the absence of such a bridge.[2] Immediately after the footbridge, the carriageways diverge, with the northbound carriageway taking a higher route up the hill and the southbound carriageway taking a separate lower route that includes achicane at the bottom of the steep hill.
After Detling Hill, the road becomes known as the Maidstone road and passes theKent County Showground (on the left) andWhite Horse Wood (on the right). Further on, the road passes a largelay-by on the northbound carriageway, which was closed in 2005 after local residents complained that it was a haunt ofdoggers.[3] The road passes the village ofStockbury (on the left) and then arrives at a junction with theM2.
From there, the route used to carry on as a single carriageway towardsSheppey on the old Maidstone Road. However, in the mid-1990s, a new, dualled Maidstone Road running parallel but slightly to the west was completed, running under the M2 viaduct. The route then passes the hamlets ofDanaway andChestnut Street. The next junction on the A249 comes where it goes under theA2, with exits to a roundabout above that leads toNewington andRainham to the west or toSittingbourne to the east.
Past the A2, the route continues across the flat plains ofSwale, pastBobbing (to the west),Kemsley andMilton Regis (to the east). As it approachesSwale railway station on the southern banks ofthe Swale, the road becomes the Sheppey Way, which crosses the Swale via theSheppey Crossing, opened in 2006,[4] having previously used theKingsferry Bridge, which lifts to allow ships to pass along the Swale; non-motorised traffic still uses the old route and rejoins the A249 on the island.
On the Isle of Sheppey, the road follows a new dual carriageway built in conjunction with the new bridge as far asQueenborough. Then it returns to a single carriageway along Brielle Way intoSheerness, pastBlue Town (on the left), before ending at a roundabout near the seaport and former passenger ferry port in Sheerness. There, the A249 becomes theA250 on Bridge Road.
In 2020, Kent County Council installed mobile CCTV cameras along the A249 in anticipation of HGV backlogs due toBrexit.[5]
From September 2021,National Highways are carrying out improvements to J5 of the M2 at Stockbury, which will involve the construction of a new flyover of the roundabout for A249 traffic heading through the junction, and newslip-road connections between the M2 and the A249.[6][7] Works to realign the slip roads leading from the A249 to the eastbound carriageway of the M2 were completed in January 2023.[8] New local road links are also being built as part of the scheme. The entire scheme is now scheduled for completion in early summer 2024.[9]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Download coordinates as:
A roads in Zone 2 of theGreat Britain road numbering scheme | ||
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51°20′33″N0°41′13″E / 51.3426°N 0.6869°E /51.3426; 0.6869 (A249 road)