A21 road
Encyclopedia : A : A2 : A21 : A21 road
The A21 is one of the ten principal roads having two digits in the south-east of England. It takes traffic from London to Hastings, East Sussex. Parts of the route follow the turnpike opened in 1710 from Sevenoaks to Tunbridge Wells; other sections of the road were similarly dealt with later in the century.
The route
- Traffic from London initially uses the A20 road; it enters the A21 proper in Lewisham (Loampit Vale Junction). From there the road uses Molesworth Street; Lewisham High Street; and Rushey Green, Catford, where the South Circular Road (A205) leaves to the west; it runs south east into Bromley Road, followed by Bromley Hill. Here the road enters the London Borough of Bromley
- Having negotiated the gyratory sytem through and past the centre of Bromley (part of which is called Kentish Way), the road ascends Masons Hill to Bromley Common; 1.3 miles (2km) later it throws off the A233 road to Westerham and becomes, in turn, Hastings Road; at Locksbottom, Farnborough Common; and The Green
- At this point the bypass for High Street, Farnborough begins): Farnborough Way.
- Now the A223 enters from the north from Orpington, and A21 is the Sevenoaks Road, a name it retains until Knockholt at Hewitts Roundabout where it is joined by the Orpington Bypass - A224 - from the north; where the road enters Kent near its junction with the M25 motorway. The road now becomes a dual carriageway but for a short distance loses its identity: the A224 usurps it.
- * At this point the erstwhile A21 climbed to the top of the North Downs at Polhill, and then descended through Dunton Green and Sevenoaks; on through Hildenborough to Tonbridge (the London Road'' at the north of the town is now the B245), where it crosses the River Medway; and reaches a junction to the south of the town with the
- "New" A21: the Sevenoaks and Tonbridge Bypasses. This road is two-lane dual carriageway, and has junction with the M25 and the A25 near Chevening and with the cross-county A26 south of Tonbridge.''
- South of Tonbridge, the A21 becomes a single carriageway for two miles until the three-mile long Pembury dual carriageway bypass.
- * From the southern end of the bypass, at Kippings Cross the final 25 miles (40km) of the A21 is generally a single carriageway, often winding, road with several steep gradients across the Weald. There are few major centres of habitation and the road has remained a "poor relation" insofar as widening schemes are concerned. Press reports such as [this] are commonplace. In October 2005 the "Preferred Route" to deal with the 3 mile (4.75km)section south of Kippings Cross was announced [:see details here]. Two recently-completed schemes are described below.
- The Lamberhurst bypass, was opened on 23 March 2005. Here the road had steep inclines into a river valley. Included in the scheme is a "land bridge" at Scotney Castle. Details are [here].
- Bewl Water and the Bedgebury Pinetum flank the road before the two-mile (3km) Flimwell bypass. This has recently been reduced to one lane in each direction to reduce speeding.
- Salehurst: here the Robertsbridge Bypass begins, taking traffic away from the town.
- * Plans have been published (see [here]) for a new road between the southern end of the Flimwell bypass and the beginning of the Robertsbridge Bypass. This would bypass Hurst Green.
- At John's Cross the original route of the A21 passed through Battle: the road is now the A2100. The present route takes the road to the east on a relatively straight, though undulating, journey, bypassing Sedlescombe to enter Hastings under a road bridge through Silverhill and St Leonards on Sea.
See also
Great Britain road numbering schemeExternal links
| UK Primary status A roads in Zone 2 | |
| A2 - A20 - A202 - A205 - A2070 - A21 - A217 - A22 - A228 - A229 - A23 - A232 - A24 - A249 - A25 - A253 - A256 - A259 - A26 - A264 - A27 - A272 - A28 - A280 - A283 - A29 - A299 | ||
| Great Britain road numbering scheme | ||
|---|---|---|
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