The A256 is a major road running along the east coast 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 ...

between the

Isle of Thanet The Isle of Thanet () is a peninsula forming the easternmost part of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel, it is no longer an island. Archaeological remains testify to its settlement in an ...

and Dover. It is operated by Kent County Council as a primary route, and has seen investment in the past to connect traffic to the

Port of Ramsgate The Port of Ramsgate (also known as Port Ramsgate, Ramsgate Harbour, and Royal Harbour, Ramsgate) is a harbour situated in Ramsgate, south-east England, serving cross-Channel freight traffic and smaller working and pleasure craft. It is owned an ...

, and to 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 Pfizer ...

research centre in

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 ...

Route

The A256 begins on the edge of Broadstairs with the A255. Within Thanet, it runs through the Westwood retail park,

Westwood Cross Westwood Cross is a British, open, pedestrianised shopping centre at Westwood, Kent. It opened in 2005, and since 2008 has incorporated a casino, cinema and bingo hall. History Westwood Cross is situated on the former Haine Hospital site, whi ...

, and Haine Road. It meets the A299 Thanet Way from

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 ...

at 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 ...

junction, where it becomes a major road. From here, it heads south towards the former Richborough Power Station,

and Dover as a high quality road.

History

A Roman road ran from Dover to

Woodnesborough Woodnesborough ( ) is a village in the Dover District of Kent, England, west of Sandwich. The population taken at the 2011 census included Coombe as well as Marshborough, and totalled 1,066. There is a Grade II* listed Anglican church dedicat ...

, in roughly the same direction as the modern A256, though on a different route. It is not mentioned in the second century '' Antonine Itinerary'', but this may simply have been as it was not an important route. The basic route of the modern road was recognised as a

turnpike Turnpike often refers to: * A type of gate, another word for a turnstile * In the United States, a toll road Turnpike may also refer to: Roads United Kingdom * A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...

by the start of the 19th century. The Sandwich bypass opened in 1981; prior to this, the A256 ran over the

Sandwich Toll Bridge Sandwich Toll Bridge is a Grade II listed road swing bridge over the River Stour in Sandwich, Kent. It opened in 1755 on a site that had been a crossing for centuries, and has had several iterations; the current is a swing bridge that opened in ...

and was a major source of local congestion. A further upgrade from Whitfield to Eastry was completed in the 1990s, bypassing those villages and Tilmanstone to the east. The A256 was outlined as a strategic corridor by Kent County Council in 1999. At a board meeting the following year, two proposals ("East Kent Access" phases 1 and 2) were announced. The first phase, implemented between 2003 and 2005, contained various junction improvements and upgrading single carriageway sections around Sandwich to dual carriageway. Phase 2 was a major upgrade of the approach to Thanet and the largest highway project constructed by the council. It included a new A299 dual carriageway bypassing Cliffsend and a new bridge over the

Ashford to Ramsgate line Ashford may refer to: Places Australia *Ashford, New South Wales *Ashford, South Australia *Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia Ireland *Ashford, County Wicklow * Ashford Castle, County Galway United Kingdom *Ashford, Kent, a town ** ...

. In 2015, dual carriageway sections of the A256 were identified as a possible relief for

Operation Stack Operation Stack is a procedure used by Kent Police and the Port of Dover in England to park (or "stack") lorries on the M20 motorway in Kent when services across the English Channel, such as those through the Channel Tunnel or from the Port o ...

, which would queue Dover-bound freight vehicles along the road.

References

External links

A256 on Roads By 10
{{DEFAULTSORT:2-0256 Roads in Kent