Why motorists on the M20 are getting a taste of the M2 with speed limits and lane closures

Is it just me, or is the M2[1] one of the nation's most depressing motorways? Heading coastbound, it starts off OK in four-lane splendour. But by the time you bid the Gillingham[2] junction farewell it has been eroded to a miserable two.

The M2 - for the most part a glorified A-road. Picture: Stock image

Two lanes is not a motorway in my book...that's a glorified A-road.

Two lanes which mean it takes precious little for the road to become snarled up with gut-wrenchingly slow-moving traffic - two lanes in which you can normally rely on one of two things. Firstly, if you dare head into the fast lane to overtake the steady stream of lorries making their generally sluggish progress eastwards, a chap in a BMW will inevitably be about two inches from your back bumper while gesticulating wildly.

For them, the 70mph limit is a mere guideline and they struggle to understand why everyone else is not pelting down the solo fast lane at a solid 90mph. Then, of course, there are those HGVs who decide to overtake another HGV.

Two lanes and it doesn't take much for it to be blocked

It's like slow-motion comedy.

One, travelling at about 50mph, pulls out to overtake another travelling at 49.5mph. For what seems like an eternity, they race neck-and-neck, while the rest of the traffic piles up behind them wondering just how this overtaking manoeuvre is going to benefit the fractionally faster lorry in the long run. In fact, it's probably what so riles up the BMW drivers.

I know HGV drivers are doing an essential job, but still.

It's all a far cry from the three-lane delights of the M20. There, the BMWs can bomb along to their heart's content, while the rest of us weave our merry way to our destinations in the other two.

The M20 in all its three-lane delights. Picture: Google

Those who use the M20 don't know how good they have it. At least, they would normally think that.

Because, of course, having earlier this week taken the stretch between Ashford and Maidstone, the traffic is fixed down to a 50mph limit and it's reduced to two lanes for the most part. A situation regular users have become only too familiar with. The spirit of the M2, it seems, has now been replicated on the M20.

You lucky things.

References

1. ^ the M2 (www.kentonline.co.uk)
2. ^ Gillingham (www.kentonline.co.uk)