MT 95/256

Relief bridge for Aylesford Bridge, Kent.

Date range	1957 - 1963
Location	National Archives (see all files stored here)
Catalogue	See entry
File base	Series MT, subseries MT 95

Contents of note

The Maidstone Bypass had been kicking around since the 1930s, and was finally back on the drawing board. However, by 1957, traffic on the A20 through the town was just so awful that the then B2011 through Aylesford and Bearsted had become used as a de facto bypass. A temporary road bridge (which, like all good "temporary" structures, remains in place to this day) was knocked up over the River Medway at Aylesford to bring the road up to A class standard, which it briefly became until the A20(M) obliterated it into unclassified status, where it remains.

The file includes a nice aerial photograph of the then new and historic bridges, and a couple of shots of the bridge in 1964, already showing signs of disrepair.

People with camera copies

Ritchie Swann has some of the photos.