Renewed bid for A2 to be fully dualled
The small garage... that’s big on service
Ten Kent MPs have met Chancellor Philip Hammond to make the case for dualling the A2 all the way to the Port of Dover.
Plans to widen the road were axed in the late 1990s by the government of the day.
On Monday Mr Hammond met 10 MPs pressing for the dualling to be put back on the agenda.
Dover MP Charlie Elphicke said: “I’ve been working tirelessly to make this happen for the good of Dover, Deal and the nation.
“The upgrading of the A2 at Dover is long overdue.”
Mr Elphicke is calling for the upgrade to end bottlenecks caused by the road narrowing to a single carriageway at Lydden and Whitfield.
His campaign comes as the government predicts the amount of roll-on/roll-off traffic will increase by 101% by 2030.
The number of vehicles travelling through the Port of Dover has already rocketed – from 1.6 million cars and 730,000 lorries in 1985 to 2.3 million cars and 2.5 million HGVs in 2015.
The Kent MPs also asked for other improvements such as upgrading the M2’s junction 7 at Brenley Corner.
Most of the other nine Kent MPs have constituencies on or close to the A2/M2.
They were Damian Collins, Folkestone and Hythe, Roger Gale, North Thanet, Julian Brazier, Canterbury, Craig Mackinlay, South Thanet; Helen Whately, Faversham and Mid Kent, Adam Holloway, Gravesham, Tracey Crouch, Chatham and Aylesford, and Medway MPs Rehman Chishti and Kelly Tolhurst.