M26 motorway (Great Britain)
|
|
|
|---|---|
| Route information | |
| Length: | 9.9 mi (15.9 km) |
| Existed: | 1980 – present |
| Major junctions | |
| West end: | Chevening |
 M25 motorway Junction 5  M20 motorway Junction 3 |
|
| East end: | Addington |
| Location | |
|
Primary destinations: |
Sevenoaks |
| Road network | |
The M26 is a motorway in Kent, England. It provides a short link between the M25 at Sevenoaks and the M20 near West Malling.
The motorway starts at junction 3 of the M20 and heads west, encountering almost immediately the single junction along its length where it has an interchange with the A20. This junction is numbered 2a to reflect its proximity to the M20's nearby junction 2 (also connecting with the A20) a short distance to the north-west.
8 miles (13 km) to the west the M26 merges with the M25 at junction 5. There is no exit from the M26 at junction 5 and all traffic must join the clockwise (westbound) M25. The next M25 junction, number 6, is 10 miles (16 km) west at Godstone so traffic joining the M26 at Junction 2a cannot leave the motorway for 18 miles (29 km), the longest distance between motorway exits in the UK.
Anti-clockwise direction from the M25, the main carriageway continues directly on to the M26 at junction 5. To remain on the M25, traffic must turn on to the slip road which connects to the M25 spur coming north from Sevenoaks, which is multiplexed with the A21. The awkwardness of junction 5 is a result of the history of the two motorways' planning and construction.
Construction of the M26 began in 1977, although a route on a similar alignment was originally proposed in the Greater London Plan in 1944 as part of proposed post war improvements to London area transport network. Those proposals were developed further in the 1960s as part of the London Ringways plan and the route of the M26 at that time formed part of Ringway 4 and would have been designated as part of the M25.
...
Wikipedia