M20 motorway

The M20 is a motorway in Kent that links London to Folkestone and the Channel Tunnel. It begins near Swanley where it meets the M25 and A20, then runs south-east across the North Downs. The road crosses the River Darent north of Farningham and passes Wrotham where the M26 joins it. Near Maidstone it runs parallel to the Medway Valley railway line before turning east towards Ashford. The M20 carries goods traffic when cross-Channel services are disrupted through operations such as Operation Stack and Operation Brock. It also forms part of the European route E15 though this is not shown on English signs. The motorway was built in stages from the 1960s, with the first section opening as the Maidstone Bypass in 1960. Later extensions reached Ashford in 1981 and Folkestone in 1993, completing the route to Dover. A visitor driving the M20 passes through gently rolling countryside north of the North Downs. The road runs close to historic sites such as Leeds Castle and crosses the route of the High Speed 1 railway line several times. Near Ashford the motorway follows the line of an older A20 bypass and a section of the original route is still visible as Simone Weil Avenue. The landscape around the final stretch towards Folkestone is suburban, giving access to the A20 for Dover.