Its original alignment roughly followed a mix of the ancient Celtic route and the turnpike road to Dover. The Roman alignment, however, is not easy to identify and much of the original A2 does not exactly follow what is known of the Roman route (the straightness of many long stretches is misleading). A section of the modern A2 from Rochester to the Roman settlement of
Vagniacae, modern
Springhead, is believed to roughly follow the Roman route.
Borough to Shooter's Hill . The A2 starts at
Borough in Central London, at a junction with the
A3, near the church of
St George the Martyr. The remains of a small Roman temple was excavated at Tabard Square in 2003. The A2 at this point is named Great Dover Street, and is the only part of the A2 within the
congestion charging zone. At the end of the road, it meets the
London Inner Ring Road and becomes a primary route. The A2 heads along
Old Kent Road towards
New Cross, where the
A20 breaks away. The A2 continues east through
Deptford and
Blackheath until it arrives at the
Shooter's Hill Interchange with the
A102 near
Greenwich. A section of the Roman road has been identified running through
Greenwich Park on an alignment with Vanbrugh Park.
Shooter's Hill to Three Crutches At Shooter's Hill, Watling Street and the A2 part company, as Watling Street continues along the
A207. At this point the A2 joins a
dual carriageway, the Rochester Way Relief Road (the carriageways to the north of this junction being the A102 Blackwall Tunnel Approach) with a speed limit of 50 mph (80 km/h). The A2 meets traffic lights at
Kidbrooke; this is the last set of traffic lights out of
Greater London (the lights only apply to traffic turning right onto the A2213). Shortly after here, the A2 crosses the
A205 South Circular Road and becomes a
motorway in all but name, with 3 lanes and a
hard shoulder in each direction. Within the London section the left hand lane is used for local traffic. At Falconwood, the road becomes the East Rochester Way – this point was once the westbound terminus of the dual carriageway. There are exits for
Bexleyheath, Black Prince (at
Bexley), and other south east London suburbs. Motorists should be aware that the section between the Blackwall Tunnel Approach and
Dartford Heath is monitored using
average speed cameras. Just before the A2 reaches the junction with the A2018, the speed limit increases to the national speed limit (70 mph, 112 km/h) as the road crosses the
Greater London boundary to head eastwards into
Kent towards
Dartford, bypassing the town to the south and cutting through Dartford Heath. The next junction links the road to the
M25 London Orbital Motorway at
Dartford; the next, (Bean Interchange), is for the B255 and
A296 for
Bluewater, where Watling Street rejoins the A2. The A2 then bypasses
Gravesend, before merging into the
M2 at Three Crutches Interchange, near
Strood. This latter section, from the Pepper Hill Interchange (near
Northfleet and the
Ebbsfleet International railway station), to the
Cobham Interchange underwent extensive works (2007–2009) to move the entire carriageway south to run parallel to
the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, so as to move the road away from residential housing – and continue using four lanes in each direction, with grade separated junctions.
Three Crutches to Brenley Corner at Rochester near the Roman and Celt crossings The A2 reverts to a non-primary single carriageway road at this point. The M2 now parts company to bypass the
Medway Towns, while the A2 heads into them. It enters
Strood before crossing the
River Medway into
Rochester. The A2 bypasses the old High Street, heading instead along Corporation Street alongside the railway lines. It crosses the old High Street, climbs Star Hill and heads east into
Chatham where it meets the
A230 and
A231. There used to be one way ring road but it was changed to two way running in 2006 and was partially closed to all but buses and taxis in 2009, meaning the ring road was no more. The A2 heads to the south of
Gillingham, where the
A289 Medway Northern Bypass joins it. The
A278 departs from the A2 to head south to meet the M2, whereas the A2 goes through
Rainham and
Newington before entering green country for the first time since Three Crutches. The road meets the
A249, now dualled, to the west of
Sittingbourne, before going through the town itself (bypassing the now-pedestrianised High Street, as it does in Rochester and Chatham). Leaving Sittingbourne, the A2 continues east in an almost straight line, for it is still along the alignment of Watling Street at this point. At Ospringe it passes the
Maison Dieu, now a museum of Roman artifacts but originally a wayside hospital commissioned by
Henry III in 1234. The A2 continues to Faversham, but does not (and never has) go through the town, but almost bypasses it to the south. A mile (1.6 km) later, it arrives at Brenley Corner, junction 7 of the M2.
Brenley Corner To Dover Docks At Brenley Corner, the A2 once again becomes a primary dual carriageway. Straight after the interchange,
Dunkirk and Boughton are bypassed as the A2 continues towards Canterbury and Dover. Formerly it went through Canterbury city centre, this has now been bypassed and the original route is now called the
A2050. It breaks off from the A2 at
Harbledown – just after Gate Services – taking all Canterbury traffic with it. At Wincheap, the
A28 meets the A2, although only westbound traffic can exit the A2 at this point. The A2050 rejoins the A2 at
Bridge. Traffic for the
Channel Tunnel and
Folkestone leaves at the junction with the
A260, and shortly after this junction the A2 loses its dual carriageway status, regains it, and loses it again within a few miles. The A2 formerly ran through Lydden but was diverted in 1977. Now single carriageway, the A2 forms the Dover bypass. It meets the
A256 for
Sandwich and
Ramsgate at a briefly dualled section, before reverting to single carriageway for the final time. The A2 breaks through the cliffs above Dover Docks before turning 180 degrees by way of a
pigtail bridge and "touching down" on land again at the entrance to the Eastern Docks, where both it and the
A20 terminate. ==Junction list==