A2(M)
Where was it?
No-where.
Huh?
Not ever, OK?
What are you on about?
OK, simple: there has never been a motorway built called the A2(M) in England.
What on earth is it doing here then?
Well, you see, there was an error in certain editions of atlases, one of which being Bartholomew's 1968/69 edition.
Ah...
Now you're getting it!
Yes, I certainly am. So why was such a mistake made?
When this section of the A2 was upgraded, it was to a very high standard. Much higher, in fact, than the older M2 to the east.
This lead to the rather odd situation of the signposts on the road changing from green to blue, and the road getting narrower, not wider!
Fortunately, the recent M2 widening works has rectified this little oddity.
Why do I get the feeling that you're not saying everything?
Because despite all the comments above, there has been an A2(M) planned...
What???
Yes, it was planned to be in south east London, and was eventually built (to a lower standard) as the Rochester Way Relief Road. It was all part of the London Box plans for "Ringways" and radials...
When that was cancelled, the A2(M) died with it. A partial scan of a DoT document referring to this incarnation of A2(M) is available here.
There is also a story related by Tom Sutch on SABRE that the present M2 was originally planned to be called A2(M). To quote:
"I seem to remember reading something in the PRO [Public Records Office] about this. Apparently it had been decided to number the Medway Towns bypass as A2(M), but the Daily Telegraph had already gone ahead and printed a swish map in one of their editions, proudly proclaiming the number of the road as M2. It was therefore deemed wisest to go for this (did the Telegraph maps department really carry that much weight?!)..."
This does indeed seem to be the case. Early documentation found in the National Archives refers to "A2(M) Medway Towns Bypass", rather than M2.
Can I comment on this motorway?
Of course! Contact me and I'll put them here!
Have any other visitors commented?
Brian starts us off:
"Tale I heard about this was that the main A2 carriageway, from Three Crutches (start/end of M2) to Swanscombe cutting was going to be motorway (and hence A2M) but Dept of Transport boo-boo-ed by not leaving an alternative route for non motorway traffic in its plans, - any alternative would have been very tortuous through Gravesend etc - by the time this was realised I gather it was nearly built, so they wee unable to open it as a Motorway, so it had to remain as "Motorway class" dual carriageway This would seem to tie in with your map, which indeed shows the main A2 past Gravesend as a Motorway (and not the M2 but A2M as you suggested)"
Mark Whittingham has a query:
Having lived near to what would have been the A2M for virtually all my life, I have always wondered what the 'old A2' looked like before being dualled. Has anybody got any photographs from years gone by?
Can anyone help Mark out?