Extending M2 would solve problems
Villages editor Sports editor Political editor A tunnel under Dover? Here we go again, another harebrained scheme which would cost millions if not billions of pounds and where would it go?
Very large chalk cliffs come to mind. Is there nobody with any common sense of even half a brain who cannot see that extending the A2/M2 from Dartford to Strood and from Faversham to Jubilee Way, Dover, would immediately eradicate most of the lorries from Dover town centre as there would be a motorway directly to the port at last.
This would also mean we would not need to concrete over even more of Kent for a lorry park, another saving. There would be two motorways to stack lorries.
I am not brilliant at maths, but it must also be cheaper than a tunnel.
When the container port at the Western Docks is up and running the M20 will grind to a halt unless the railway is resurrected, so why does the M2, or rather the lack of it, seem such a taboo subject? I have written over the last five years to six MPs to no avail and spoken numerous times on the radio about this. Why is nothing being done about the blindingly obvious solution? I cannot be the only person suggesting this, but nobody is listening. I will now give up on the subject as it keeps falling on deaf ears. R A Harlow Mallings Drive, Bearsted I have a personal story about the Supplements editor Business editor recent traffic chaos around Dover, resulting from increased border security by the French.
On Wednesday, July 13 I departed Dover by coach on a ferry.
At the French border checkpoint we disembarked to find nobody there.
When two people were found they turned out not to be either British or French border staff but British employees of private firm G4S. Who they were working for I just don’t know.
On return there was a long queue at the British checkpoint in Calais – all of which were getting the sniffer dog treatment of luggage What’s On reporter kentonline editor compartments. There were more officers present, but still a lot of unmanned positions.
My take is that there was a lack of planning all round for the enhanced checks and they were “caught napping” by the holiday peak. This was simply insufficient staffing.
An interim measure is proposed where the speed limit is “graduated”, 60 from the present start, to 50 and then 40 as you reach the port.
Not perfect but better than what we have now. Ian Taylor, Alliance of British Drivers, Castlemount Road, Dover