- A229 road
UK road routebox
road= A229
length-mi= 29
length-km= 46.5
direction= North - South
start= Rochester
destinations= Chatham
Hastings
Maidstone
end=Coopers Corner
construction-date=
completion-date=
junctions= gbroadsmall|2
ukroadsmall|230
ukmotorwaysmall|2
ukmotorwaysmall|20
ukroadsmall|20
ukroadsmall|249
ukroadsmall|274
ukroadsmall|2045
ukroadsmall|262
ukroadsmall|268
ukroadsmall|21The A229 is a major
road running north-south throughKent .The road begins in the
Medway town of Rochester at the foot of Star Hill forming a junction with the A2 road. It then climbs up through the built-up area of Chatham, passing "Troy Town" and Rochester Airport before descending the slope of theNorth Downs atBlue Bell Hill . As it reaches the summit of the climb there is the first of two complicated series of junctions, this with theM2 motorway . Below the road as it descends is the tunnel carryingHigh Speed 1 . Once into theMedway Valley the northern outskirts ofMaidstone are reached; and a second series of junctions, this time with theM20 motorway are reached.The A229 (6 miles (9.6km) from the start) traverses Maidstone through the suburbs of
Sandling andRinglestone to the north; when the road reaches the right bank of theRiver Medway it is joined by theA26 road from the west. The road skirts the town and begins to climb - this time up to theGreensand Ridge . Here the road leading toTenterden (the A274) forms a left-hand junction. The summit is reached at Loose, built on the southern slope; next, also on a hillside, is Linton; at the foot of that hill the road enters the broad valley of the "River Beult", one of the main tributaries of the River Medway. At 9 miles (14.4km) from the start, the large linearvillage ofStaplehurst is reached, standing on its own piece of higher ground above the plain.Soon after Staplehurst the road begins another climb - this time up to the
Weald . During the climb it bypasses Cranbrook; and then follows a further climb intoHawkhurst . This village is in two parts: where the A268 makes a crossroads, and then lower down comes "The Moor", the lower half of the village.At this point the A229, prior to the 1990s, followed a route south of Hawkhurst, following the course of a Roman Road passing to the west of
Bodiam and through Cripp's Corner andSedlescombe before meeting the A21 just south of the River Brede. This section was redesignated B2244 in the 1990s.At The Moor the A229 has now taken over the most easterly part of the A265, so that it now joins the A21 north of Hurst Green just south of the East Sussex border, at "Cooper's Corner". This reduced its original length by some 5 miles (8km).
The A229 through Maidstone is a major bottleneck on the route, with long daily morning and evening queues entering both sides of the town. Otherwise the road passes through little in the way of built-up areas. It is principally a link between the Medway Towns, Maidstone and the south coast around
Hastings .External links
* [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/roadlists/r10/notes.php?number=A229 A229 on Roads By 10]
* [http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=671878497460315825,51.383210,0.508747%3B4532885498027517727,51.271630,0.521650%3B3086834754539231162,51.161830,0.552590%3B11803464439193050474,51.024650,0.469340&saddr=A229%2FCity+Way+%4051.383210,+0.508747&daddr=A229%2FPalace+Ave+%4051.271630,+0.521650+to:A229%2FHigh+St+%4051.161830,+0.552590+to:A229%2FMerriments+Ln+%4051.024650,+0.469340&sll=51.20086,0.53421&sspn=0.503385,0.933838&ie=UTF8&ll=51.204302,0.516357&spn=0.503347,0.933838&z=10 Google Maps]
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