1959–65: Development and opening of the original motorway The M2 was originally planned to be a direct link between London and the
Channel Ports, which later materialised as the
M20, and the current route was planned to open as the A2(M). However, after the
Daily Telegraph published an article that misnamed the A2(M) as the M2, the
Ministry of Transport changed the number of the motorway. Tenders for the original 17-span
Medway Viaduct were issued in 1959, which cost £2.5 million to construct. The section of the M2 between junctions 2 and 5 was opened by
Ernest Marples on 29 May 1963, Instead, due to a lack of traffic demand, the A2 was upgraded to a
dual carriageway from Faversham to Dover and to a six-lane dual carriageway with hard shoulders from
Strood to
Swanscombe towards London. The six-lane section of the A2 was opened at noon on 29 July 1966 by the
Bishop of Rochester,
David Say, and George Harris, the managing director of Monk Ltd.
1980–2003: Traffic congestion and improvements around Medway Mitigating traffic congestion on the M2 was considered as early as 1980 when a proposal to ban
heavy goods vehicles from using the second lane on an uphill section of the M2 was debated in
Parliament. In the late 1990s, junction 1 was rebuilt to accommodate a link to the
Medway Tunnel, which opened as the
A289. From 2000 to 2003, the M2 was widened from four to eight lanes from junctions 1 to 3 and to six lanes from junctions 3 to 4.
1993–97: Coach crash and criminal inquest On 10 November 1993, a coach carrying 44 passengers to
Canterbury Cathedral lost control and crashed on the M2 near
Faversham. 10 people, including the driver, died from injuries sustained during the crash. A disabled speed limiter was blamed for the accident, as it was later discovered that the coach was travelling at 78 mph before the crash. In 1997, the criminal inquest was thrown out despite the jury finding that the deceased passengers had been unlawfully killed. The
Highways Agency closed the motorway to monitor the sinkhole, which led to severe traffic congestion. It partially reopened the motorway to traffic on 13 February. After further inspections took place, the sinkhole was filled in and the motorway fully reopened to traffic by 20 February.
2021-25: Junction 5 improvements From June 2021 to February 2025,
National Highways remodelled junction 5 of the M2 at a cost of £100 million to provide a flyover for
A249 through traffic and improved
connections between the M2 and A249. The main aims of the scheme were to improve capacity, connectivity and safety. ==Junctions==