Lacton Interchange

The junction in 1957 was originally constructed as a T-junction

It was converted to a roundabout by 1962

The Lacton Interchange, found at the eastern end of the Ashford Bypass, is junction 10 of the M20.

The origins of the junction date from 1957, when the bypass opened as the A20. The other routes at this time were the A292 (the old A20 through Ashford) and the B2164 from Kennington, and it was constructed as a T-junction, before being upgraded to a flat roundabout around 1961.

The present junction is slightly southeast of this location, and dates from 1981, when the Ashford Bypass east of the A28 was upgraded to the M20.

Since then, the A2070 Willesborough Bypass, carrying trunk road traffic from Hastings and Romney Marsh, has also been plugged into the junction. Consequently, it is now considered to be overloaded - it contains full time traffic signals and was widened to three lanes around the roundabout in 2009. M20 J10A was therefore planned to connect the M20 to the A2070 further east of here, and opened in October 2019.

The J10A works also involved the permanent closure and removal of the coast facing sliproads causing this to become a restricted access junction and leaving only one physical slip directly feeding onto the roundabout itself. The new J10A is a full access junction - for Coastbound onslip or Londonbound offslip access is now provided at the new interchange (accessed via A20 or A2070 spur).

Routes

Route	To	Notes
M20	London, Maidstone	Access to London-bound slip via A292
M20	Channel Tunnel, Folkestone, Dover	No access/exit from junction (Access via J10A)
A2070	Hastings, South Ashford, Sevington, International Station, Business Parks, Services (lorries only)
A20	Sellinge, Superstore, Mersham, Smeeth, Pilgrims Hospice
A292	Ashford
A2070	Canterbury (A28), Kennington, William Harvey Hospital, Willesborough Ind Estates, Julie Rose Stadium

Links

• Kent Online: M20 Junction 10 construction captured in series of retro Ashford photos (15.12.2019) (archive.org)