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A249

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A249
Location Map ( geo)
Cameraicon.png View gallery (37)
From:  Maidstone (TQ762553)
To:  Sheerness (TQ917750)
Distance:  18.6 miles (29.9 km)
Meets:  A229, A20, B2012, M20, M2, A2, B2006, B2005, B2231, A2500, B2007, A250
Former Number(s):  B2231, A250
Primary Destinations
Highway Authorities

National Highways • Kent

Traditional Counties

Kent

Route outline (key)
A249 Maidstone – Sheerness
A249 Barrows Hill – Halfway Houses - Sheerness

The A249 is a major road in north Kent and the main road on the Isle of Sheppey. The northern section is a trunk road.

Route

Section 1: Maidstone – Detling

The road starts at traffic lights on the A229 one-way loop in the centre of Maidstone. Some maps show that Knightrider Street which runs one-way westbound through the centre of the loop is also part of the A249. The road heads east along the D2 Wat Tyler Way before reaching a gyratory where the A20 bears off eastwards; all the route of the A249 so far has been a useless multiplex with that road.

Now S2 the A249 continues uphill through the outskirts of Maidstone to the Chiltern Hundreds roundabout where the dual carriageway starts again and the speed limit rises from 30 mph to 40 mph. The old route goes straight on here, but that's now a park and ride and instead there's a turn to the right, then to the left, where it meets M20 junction 7.

Section 2: Detling – Stockbury

From here, the speed limit rises to 50mph. The stretch from here to the M2 is a very useful bit of road and was part of the main route to Dover and Folkestone before the M20 was completed past Maidstone. Coming the other way, M2 traffic is signed onto the A249 for the Channel Tunnel.

The road reaches Detling almost immediately. It used to go through the village, but was bypassed in the summer of 1962 when the then-A20(M) was built. However, the bypass had two at-grade side turns with the Pilgrims Way which resulted in many accidents culminating in the sad death of Jade Hobbs when she was just eight years old. There is now a footbridge named Jade's Crossing (built in 2002) and the speed limit is camera enforced.

The A249 at Detling Hill

North of Detling, the road then rejoins its original route, albeit dualled, and climbs slowly uphill, still on a 50 limit. Coming the other way (southbound) is more challenging though, as this is the original course of the road with lots of tight corners to negotiate, where 50mph may be considered too fast.

At the top of the hill, there's a turning off for the Kent County Showground which usually involves gridlock on the A249 when there's a show on as the police have a tendency to close off one lane of traffic in either direction. Past this, national speed limit resumes as the road slowly winds its way downhill. This section was dualled later than the bit around Detling but it still has at-grade junctions and some frontages (most noticeably a pub and a café) up to the roundabout with M2 J5. You can see the viaduct over the M2 from miles away having come up the valley. As of 2023, the junction is being redesigned to allow grade-separation for the A249. From here to Sheerness, the A249 is a trunk road as it provides goods vehicle access to the Port of Sheerness.

Section 3: Stockbury – Sheerness

A249 approaching the M2 viaduct

The A249 passes underneath the M2 on the Stockbury Viaduct. The current route is a dual carriageway built in the mid-1990s; with the older road through Danaway running to the east of this.

A couple of miles further is a limited-access grade-separated roundabout with the A2 (with only south-facing sliproads to/from the A249). At this point, three versions of the A249 are running side by side - the original route up Bobbing Hill, the wide single-carriageway bypass of this from the seventies, and our current dualled route. The second of these meets the dual carriageway at the next grade separated roundabout.

Sheppey Crossing

While the current A249 continues on past Iwade, the old route has been extensively traffic calmed to the extent it is impossible to believe it was once a primary route. The two routes cross over each other just before crossing the Swale. The old route takes the 1959 Kingsferry Bridge (which replaced an earlier bridge of 1904), which also carries the railway line onto the island. This is a lifting bridge and so sometimes opens to let ships through. The modern A249 instead continues along the dual-carriageway Sheppey Crossing, opened to traffic on 3rd July 2006. The old route joins back up with the new a mile or so north of the bridges, although as earlier, both routes themselves are replacement of the original winding route from the old ferry.

The A249 turns left at a roundabout with the A2500 (former A250) and heads to the left hand side of Sheppey. The next roundabout along is with the current A250 (former A249) to Halfway and Minster, and the B2007 to Queenborough, where the speed limit lowers to 40 mph. The A249 itself bypasses the latter village, where it picks up the B2007 at the next roundabout, and the speed limit drops again to 30 mph.

There's then a run through industrial works alongside the railway to the north of the island, where the A249 terminates at a roundabout. You have a choice of turning left to the seaport or straight on to the A250 which takes you into Sheerness proper.

Route History

The dual-carriagway Iwade bypass (from the A2 to the Kingsferry Bridge) was first put into the Government's road-building programme in 1982, with public consultation in 1985 and a preferred route announcement in 1986. The southern section, from the A2 to the M2, was programmed in 1985 and went out to consultation in 1986. A route announcement was expected in 1988, although due to various delays construction work on both improvements didn't start until the mid 1990s.[1] The new dual carriagway section of the A249 north of the A2 opened in October 1996.

Plans for the new Sheppey Crossing and dualling of the A249 towards Queenborough were already underway in 1996, with Kent Police raising several comments about the proposed works. [2]

Opening Dates

Year Section Notes
1962 Detling Bypass Opened August 1962 per a later Thanet Times article. The 2 mile road from M20 Maidstone Bypass to the Castle Hill junction had dual 24 foot carriageways. For the climb up Detling Hill a new separate carriageway at a higher level was built, with the existing road used for the southbound carriageway. Forecast cost £363,000.
1982 Chestnut Street - Bobbing Improvement The 1.3 mile S2 road was completed in December 1982 per the Policy for Roads in England: 1983 Report. From just west of Chestnut Street to the railway bridge south of Bobbing. Total cost £2.9 million.
1982 Queenborough Bypass (Sheppey) The 1.25 mile road from Queenborough Junction to Montague Road, West Minster was expected to be completed in July 1982 per a Sheppey Times Guardian article of 19 June 1981. Contractor was Gleeson Civil Engineering Ltd., contract value £2.1 million.
1990 Maidstone: Wat Tyler Way The road from Mote Road to Sittingbourne Road, and the 5 lane Centenary Viaduct over the River Len, was opened on 12 November 1990 by Michael Odling, Chairman of the County Council's Development, Planning and Transportation Committee. Cost £1.9 million. It was the first section of the £5.5 million Sittingbourne Road / Mote Road improvement scheme, but the north and south parts have not been built.
1996 M2 J5 Stockbury (Ridgeway) - Kingsferry (for Sheppey) Iwade and Bobbing Bypass. 6.3 mile dual carriageway linking M2 and Isle of Sheppey. Opened on 14 October 1996 by John Watts, Roads Minister. Contractor was Amec Civil Engineering Ltd., tender price £35.7 million.
2006 Sheppey Crossing The 19 span steel girder bridge and 3 mile dual carriageway from Kingsferry Junction, on the south shore of The Swale, to Queenborough Bypass was opened on 3 July 2006 by Stephen Ladyman, Roads Minister, per a Kent Online anniversary article (3 July 2016). Parts of the road may have opened earlier. Bridge length was 1.27km and maximum height 35m. The 30 year DBFO contract had been awarded to Sheppey Route Ltd., set up by the contractor Carillion.

Links

Kent County Council




A249
Junctions
Crossings
Places
Related Pictures
View gallery (37)
A249detlingsb.jpgA249 - Coppermine - 2503.jpgA249 at Detling Hill - Coppermine - 2143.JPGM20 J7 1961.PNGM20 J7 1971.PNG
Other nearby roads
Maidstone
A20 • A20(M) • A26 • A229 • A274 • A2011 (Maidstone) • A2020 • B2010 • B2011 (Maidstone) • B2012 • B2013 • B2078 • B2246 • E2 (Old System) • E5 (Old System) • E15 • M20 • T4 (Britain)
Sittingbourne
NCN1 • A2 • B2005 • B2006 • B2163 • EuroVelo 5 • T34 (Britain)
Sheerness
A250 • A2500 • B2007 • B2008 • B2231
A200-A299
A200 • A201 • A202 • A203 • A204 • A205 • A206 • A207 • A208 • A209 • A210 • A211 • A212 • A213 • A214 • A215 • A216 • A217 • A218 • A219
A220 • A221 • A222 • A223 • A224 • A225 • A226 • A227 • A228 • A229 • A230 • A231 • A232 • A233 • A234 • A235 • A236 • A237 • A238 • A239
A240 • A241 • A242 • A243 • A244 • A245 • A246 • A247 • A248 • A249 • A250 • A251 • A252 • A253 • A254 • A255 • A256 • A257 • A258 • A259
A260 • A261 • A262 • A263 • A264 • A265 • A266 • A267 • A268 • A269 • A270 • A271 • A272 • A273 • A274 • A275 • A276 • A277 • A278 • A279
A280 • A281 • A282 • A283 • A284 • A285 • A286 • A287 • A288 • A289 • A290 • A291 • A292 • A293 • A294 • A295 • A296 • A297 • A298 • A299
Defunct Itineraries: A239 • A268 • A270 • A273 • A274 • A277 • A278 • A280 • A282 • A285 • A292(W) • A292(E) • A295

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