- A20 road
UK road routebox
road= A20
length-mi=
length-km=
direction= North west - South east
start=London (Deptford/New Cross )
destinations=Lewisham Swanley Maidstone
AshfordFolkestone
end=Dover
construction-date=
completion-date=
junctions= ukmotorwaysmall|20
ukmotorwaysmall|25
gbroadsmall|2
ukroadsmall|21
ukroadsmall|25
ukroadsmall|26
ukroadsmall|205
ukroadsmall|210
ukroadsmall|222
ukroadsmall|223
ukroadsmall|224
ukroadsmall|225
ukroadsmall|227
ukroadsmall|228
ukroadsmall|229
ukroadsmall|249
ukroadsmall|252
ukroadsmall|258
ukroadsmall|260
ukroadsmall|261
ukroadsmall|292
ukroadsmall|2034
ukroadsmall|2070
ukroadsmall|2210
ukroadsmall|2211
ukroadsmall|2212
ukroadsmall|2213 The A20 is a two-digit major road in south-eastEngland , carrying traffic fromLondon to Dover inKent . Parts of the route now followed by the modern road, particularly the first section, was opened as a turnpike in the early part of the 18th century. The line of the road throughout Kent runs closely in parallel with theM20 motorway .Traffic leaving London at first takes the A2 road; at
New Cross in theLondon Borough of Lewisham the A20 turns off and heads in a south-easterly direction, becoming in turn "Lewisham Way" and " Loampit Vale". The latter road forms a large junction, where the A21 leaves forHastings . The road now runs through "Lee High Road" into "Eltham Road", which in early days took the A21 through Eltham. This junction contains a 41myellow box junction . [http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/663/response/1640] A little over 0.5 mile (1km) along Eltham Road begins theSidcup Arterial Road, opened in 1923, and which continues as the "Sidcup Bypass", crossing the A222 atFrognal Corner and the A224 atCrittall's Corner . AtSwanley it metamorphoses into theM20 motorway .Entering Kent, it runs past
Swanley and the racing circuit atBrands Hatch before descending steeply from theNorth Downs escarpment pastWrotham and on to the county town ofMaidstone . The route beyond Maidstone travels East, through the villages ofBearsted ,Harrietsham ,Lenham andCharing to Ashford.The section between Maidstone and Ashford, was the only link between the two separate sections of the M20 for 10 years, during the 1980s until the fourteen mile "missing link" of the motorway was completed in the early 1990s. Part of the A20 in Ashford formed part of the Ashford By-Pass, a dual carriageway which used to run from what is now the roundabout with Simone Weil Avenue to the Willesborough roundabout. Simon Weil Avenue, is the original A20 bypass, but has been diverted to curtail at Canterbury Road. The eastern end of the old by-pass is now the M20.
The A292 takes over the former A20 through Ashford itself, but the road soon remerges as it heads through
Willesborough andSellindge in the direction of Hythe. It takes a sharp turn left atNewingreen (the site of the UK's firstmotel ) before enteringFolkestone viaCheriton , passing the vehicular entrance to theChannel Tunnel , forming part of the town's original bypass as thetrunk road from the M20.Just before Folkestone the M20 becomes a dual carriageway A20 enters the roundhill tunnel and proceeds along the Alkham Valley before crossing over and dropping down into Dover. This part of the A20 was completed in the 1990s. Prior to that the M20 terminated in Folkestone at what is now the A259 Churchill Avenue, proceeded up Dover Hill to Capel Le Ferne, West Hougham before entering Dover. This road is now the B2011 between Folkestone and Dover.
The route then follows the coastline,
tunnel ling through the hills and descending to the docks inDover , where it meets the A2 again coming down fromCanterbury .Trivia
The Prisoner episode "Fall Out" features the A20.ee also
*
Great Britain road numbering scheme External links
* [http://www.road-to-nowhere.co.uk/route-guides/A20.htm Road to Nowhere: A20]
* [http://www.uk-roads.org.uk/roadlists/f99/20.shtml UK Roads: The A20]
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