The A299, towards the junction with the A2- M2 - geograph

The A299, better known as the Thanet Way, is a major road of in the county of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England, and runs from Brenley Corner near

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient Briti ...

(where it merges into the M2) to

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to the Census, there was a populati ...

via

Whitstable Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent adjoining the convergence of the Swale Estuary and the Greater Thames Estuary in southeastern England, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay. The 2011 Census reported a population of ...

and Herne Bay. The road provides access for

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including tran ...

traffic to Ramsgate Harbour,

Manston Airport Manston Airport was a British airport. It was branded as Manston, Kent International Airport and was located in the parish of Minster-in-Thanet and partly adjacent to the village of Manston in the Thanet district of Kent, England, north-eas ...

and Thanet Earth, as well as local access to Thanet.

History

The A299 number was first allocated to a road from Faversham to Herne Bay, via Graveney, Seasalter and Whitstable. Most of the modern route was constructed in the early 1930s as an unemployment relief project. Prior to this, all traffic from the west to the Isle of Thanet had to go via

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of t ...

. The A299 was upgraded between 1989 and 1997 to dual carriageway for almost its entire length. This included bypasses of Whitstable and Herne Bay, with the old road becoming the A2990. The A299 to the west of Whitstable and east of Herne Bay received online upgrades. This work included a twin-cell concrete tunnel below Chestfield golf course. A299 - Ramsgate Tunnel - geograph

The original Thanet Way project, and hence the A299, used to end near Monkton, where the A253 once continued to Ramsgate. This section of road has been renumbered as an extension of the A299 to Ramsgate Harbour, including a 1-mile tunnel under the Pegwell area constructed in the 1990s. The section from Minster roundabout to the

Lord of the Manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

roundabout was diverted on to a new dual carriageway during 2009–12, constructed as part of "East Kent Access" phase 2 to provide better access to Manston Airport and the

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfize ...

complex at

Sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

. This included a box jacked underpass below a road and railway line at Cliffsend. It was opened by

Norman Baker Norman John Baker (born 26 July 1957) is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewes in East Sussex from the 1997 general election until his defeat in 2015. In May 2010 he was appointed ...

on 23 May 2012. In 2020, Kent County Council installed mobile CCTV cameras along the A299 in anticipation of HGV backlogs due to Brexit.

References

External links

SABRE - A299
{{DEFAULTSORT:2-0299 Roads in Kent

History

See also

References

External links