The A20 is a major road in south-east

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, carrying traffic from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. Parts of the route date back to turnpikes established in the early part of the 18th century. The line of the road throughout Kent runs closely in parallel with the

M20 motorway The M20 is a Controlled-access highway, motorway in Kent, England. It follows on from the A20 road (England), A20 at Swanley, meeting the M25 motorway, M25, and continuing on to Folkestone, providing a link to the Channel Tunnel and the ports a ...

Route

From London to the M25

Traffic leaving London at first takes the A2 road; at

New Cross New Cross is an area in south-east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the London_postal_district#List_of_London_postal_districts, SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, London, St Jo ...

in the

London Borough of Lewisham Lewisham ( ) is a London boroughs, London borough in south-east London, England. It forms part of Inner London. The principal settlement of the borough is Lewisham. The local authority is Lewisham London Borough Council, based in Catford. The ...

the A20 begins 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 separates for

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

. The road now runs through ''Lee High Road'' into ''Eltham Road'', The junction with the A210 has an unusually long 41 metre yellow box junction. and continues as the ''Sidcup Bypass'', crossing the A222 at Frognal Corner and the A224 at Crittall's Corner. Entering Kent, it widens from two lanes to three lanes near

Swanley Swanley is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England, southeast of central London, adjacent to the Greater London boundary and within the M25 motorway periphery. The population at the 2021 ce ...

and continues onto the

Junctions

The main junctions on the London to M25 section are: *New Cross one-way system (the road starts here and branches from the A2) *Lewisham Gateway (with the A21, A2210 and A2211) *Sutcliffe Park (with the A210 to Eltham) – the road becomes a dual carriageway east of this junction *Clifton's Roundabout (with the A205 South Circular) *Fiveways, New Eltham (with the B263); this is the last at-grade junction heading out of London *Frognal Corner (with the A222) *Crittall's Corner (with the A223 and A224) *Swanley Interchange (M25 Junction 3 / M20 Junction 1)

The M25 to Dover

The A20 then passes the racing circuit at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

before descending steeply from the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Areas of Outstanding Natural Be ...

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...

past

Wrotham Wrotham ( ) is a village on the Pilgrims' Way in Kent, England, at the foot of the North Downs. It is north of Borough Green and approximately east of Sevenoaks. It is between the M20 motorway, M20 and M26 motorway, M26 motorways. History T ...

then

West Malling West Malling ( , historically Town Malling) is a market town in the Tonbridge and Malling district of Kent, England. It has a population of 2,590. Landmarks West Malling contains several historic buildings, including St Leonard's Tower, West ...

and on to the county town of

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...

. The route beyond Maidstone travels East, through the villages of Bearsted,

Harrietsham Harrietsham is a rural and industrial village and civil parish in the Maidstone (borough), Maidstone District of Kent, England. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, it had a population of 1,504, increasing to 2,113 at the United Kingdo ...

, Lenham and Charing to Ashford. The A292 takes over the former A20 through Ashford itself, then the road emerges as it heads through Willesborough and Sellindge in the direction of Hythe. It takes a sharp turn left at Newingreen (the site of the UK's first

motel A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the Parking lot, parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central Lobby (room), lo ...

) before entering

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

via Cheriton, passing the vehicular entrance to the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...

, forming part of the town's original bypass as the

trunk road A trunk road is a major highway with a specific legal classification in some jurisdictions, notably the United Kingdom, Sweden and formerly Ireland. Trunk roads are planned and managed at the national-level, distinguishing them from non-trunk ro ...

from the M20. The route then follows the coastline, tunnelling through the hills and descending to the

dock The word dock () in American English refers to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore). In British English, the term is not used the same way as in American Engl ...

s in Dover, where it meets the A2 again coming down from

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

History

Part of the route now followed by the modern road, particularly the western section, was opened as various turnpikes in the 18th century in an effort to improve coaching links between London and the Kent towns. In the early days of the

Great Britain road numbering scheme In Great Britain, there is a numbering scheme used to Categorization, classify and identify all roads. Each road is given a single letter (representing a category) and a subsequent number (between one and four digits). Though this scheme was in ...

the A20 ran through Eltham, London. along Eltham Road the

Sidcup Sidcup is an area of south-east London, England, primarily in the London Borough of Bexley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, bordering the London Boroughs of London Borough of Bromley, Bromley and Royal Borough of Greenwich, Greenwich. It was ...

Arterial Road An arterial road or arterial thoroughfare is a high-capacity urban road that sits below highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights o ...

begins, opened in 1923, which carries traffic south of the two towns instead, leaving the A210 and A211 roads following the original route. The nearby town of Swanley was bypassed in 1968, and the short link between the two bypasses was constructed in 1988 (to the south of the Ruxley Corner roundabout). Roundhill Tunnels - geograph

A section of the A20 in Ashford formed part of the Ashford By-Pass, a dual carriageway opened in 1957, which used to run from what is now the roundabout with Simone Weil Avenue to the Willesborough roundabout. Simone 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 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 ''missing link'' of the motorway was completed in May 1991. North of Folkestone the M20 becomes a dual carriageway and enters the Roundhill Tunnel before crossing over and dropping down into Dover. This part of the A20 was completed in 1993 as a project included in the Parliamentary Bill for the Channel Tunnel. During 2011, structural failures in and around the Roundhill Tunnel have caused the A20 to be closed in this area numerous times.

Junction list

A20

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:2-0020 Transport in the Borough of Ashford Transport in the London Borough of Bexley Streets in the London Borough of Bromley Streets in the London Borough of Lewisham Roads in Kent Roads in London