MT 39/147

MOTORWAYS: Motorways in Kent

Date range	1938-1944
File base	Series MT, subseries MT 39

This file is primarily concerned with a 1938 proposal from Mr Alfred Hinge of Tunstall, Kent, to build a single motorway through Kent serving both the A2 and A20 corridors, and his repeated attempts to pester the MOT about it. The proposed motorway would have collected traffic from Dartford and Wrotham, progressed in a south east direction, and split near Challock to terminate at Brenley Corner and Sellinge respectively.

It includes various newspaper cuttings along with letters to and from the MOT (mostly in the latter's case saying "go away"). The principal reason for rejection is the motorway would have had to run right along the course of the North Downs and would hence be impractical to build.

A few tidbits of information in the file also reveal:

• The A2 was not a trunk road in 1939
• The Dartford Tunnel was nearing completion in November 1938
• The M2 was originally just planned to bypassed the Medway Towns (hence the "Medway Towns Bypass" in documentation). The extension to bypass Faversham was planned later.