A229 Blue Bell Hill
The A229 Blue Bell Hill stretches between Junction 6 of the M20 in Maidstone and Junction 3 of the M2 at Blue Bell Hill village. This section of road is a key strategic link between the M20 and M2, and between Maidstone and Medway.
Improvements are needed to increase journey time reliability, reduce delays and enhance road safety on the route.
We would like your views on our proposed improvements to the A229 Blue Bell Hill. Take part in the A229 Blue Bell Hill improvement scheme consultation before 17 March.
This scheme is still in an early phase of design and further modelling and assessment work will be done to finalise a design that meets the scheme objectives.
In September 2020 there was an early engagement consultation to ask for feedback on 3 possible options. From the consultation and further development work, options 1 and 2 were taken forward for further investigation and option 3 was dropped from the proposals. Details of the three initial design options can be found in the 2020 consultation brochure and report in the scheme documents section below.
Further investigation work found that proposals in option 1 were no longer going to be sufficient to accommodate the traffic now being forecast for Taddington Roundabout (M2 Junction 3).
A new option was then developed which includes:
- a direct link from the M2 Dover bound to Blue Bell Hill towards Maidstone, providing further capacity for local traffic using the Lord Leeds and Taddington roundabouts and removing the need for an additional bridge over the M2 at Taddington Roundabout
- improvements to the existing traffic signal junction at A2045 Walderslade Woods instead of a roundabout.
The preferred scheme
The tables below summarise the key design proposals and whether they have been carried forward from option 1 or are new to the preferred scheme.
| Location | Carried forward from option 1 | New preferred scheme |
|---|---|---|
| Improvements to the Lord Lees Roundabout and Maidstone bound slip roads on Blue Bell Hill | Included | Included |
| A new separate left turn lane from the M2 London bound to Taddington Roundabout | Included | Included |
| A new slip road onto the M2 London bound from Blue Bell Hill Chatham bound | Included | Included |
| A new slip road from the M2 Dover bound to Blue Bell Hill Maidstone bound | - | Included |
| Closure of the A229 link roads between Bridgewood and Lord Lees roundabouts | - | Included |
| Improvements to the existing traffic signal junctions at A2045 Walderslade Woods | - | Included |
| Widen the A2045 approach to the Taddington Roundabout to 3 lanes | - | Included |
| Widening of the existing A229 Maidstone bound under Lord Lees Roundabout to 2 lanes | - | Included |
| New A229 link from the Bridgewood flyover to Lord Lees Roundabout | - | Included |
| Lord Lees Roundabout made larger to accommodate the new A229 route | - | Included |
| Location | Carried forward from option 1 | New preferred scheme |
|---|---|---|
| Add a third lane to Blue Bell Hill Maidstone bound (between Lord Lees and Cobtree roundabouts) | Included | Included |
| New link at Rochester Road to access Blue Bell Hill towards Maidstone and Chatham Road (Sandling) | - | Included |
| New arrangements for exiting the petrol station onto Blue Bell Hill | - | Included |
| Location | Carried forward from option 1 | New preferred scheme |
|---|---|---|
| Running Horse Roundabout layout made larger | Included | Included |
| Widen the slip road to 2 lanes onto the M20 Dover bound from Cobtree Roundabout | Included | Included |
| New slip road onto M20 Dover bound carriageway | Included | Included |
The full preferred scheme plans can be found in the scheme documents section below.
Scheme cost
This scheme is currently estimated to cost around £250 million. We have put in a bid to the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Major Road Network funding programme for ‘Large Local Major Schemes.’ This programme was set up to cater for exceptionally large local transport schemes that could not be funded through normal routes. If our bid is successful, this will cover 85% of the cost of the scheme. The remaining 15% will need to come from developer contributions and other government funding opportunities.
The current budget has increased due to the very high inflation that the UK has recently experienced. Inflation on construction projects has been higher than general inflation as a result of shortages of materials as well as general price increases. The latest estimate has taken into account these issues as well as forecasting future cost rises.
Scheme documents
A229 Blue Bell Hill preferred scheme plans (PDF, 13.5 MB)
A229 Blue Bell Hill 2020 consultation document (PDF, 926.7 KB)
A229 Blue Bell Hill Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) (PDF, 183.9 KB)
A229 Blue Bell Hill 2020 consultation report (PDF, 984.5 KB)
A249 Blue Bell Hill 2020 consultation - scheme plan option 1 (PDF, 8.4 MB)
A249 Blue Bell Hill 2020 consultation - scheme plan option 2 (PDF, 8.4 MB)
This scheme is needed to tackle high levels of congestion, concerns regarding road safety, poor air quality and to support local growth and additional traffic from the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC).
The overall aim of the scheme is to improve journey time reliability and road safety. This will allow the road to accommodate an increase in future traffic, expected as a result of the Lower Thames Crossing and proposed local developments, while providing suitable routes and facilities for public transport, pedestrians and cyclists.
Scheme objectives
The objectives of this scheme are to:
- improve journey time reliability at the M2 Junction 3 and M20 Junction 6 interchanges of the A229
- reduce congestion along the route
- enable the local area to develop in accordance with population and housing growth predicated under Local Plans
- reduce the impact of additional traffic from the Lower Thames Crossing and allow the Lower Thames Crossing to maximise potential benefits it can provide for the Kent area
- improve road safety and address known accident hotspots
- make best use of existing assets including land and highways
- provide suitable routes and facilities for public transport
- provide safe and improved routes for pedestrians and cyclists
- improve air quality
- protect and enhance the local environment.
January 2025
We have now received approval to our Strategic Outline Business Case from the DfT and are seeking funding for the next stage of the work needed for the project. The next stage of the work includes:
- refining and further developing the design of the preferred scheme
- development of environmental mitigation plans
- agreement of funding
- planning and other statutory consents
- development of construction plans to manage both the timing of works and impacts on traffic during construction of the scheme.
Anticipated timescales
The forecasted timescales for this junction improvement scheme, should our business case submission be successful, are:
- ground investigation works - summer 2025
- submission of outline business case to the DfT - mid 2026
- planning permission and consents processes started, and further detailed design - late 2026
- further detailed design continues and submission of full business case to the DfT - late 2028
- construction to begin - late 2028
- scheme completion - summer 2031 (aim to be completed before the Lower Thames Crossing opens to traffic).
Funded by
The government Large Local Majors programme provides money dedicated to improvements to the Major Road Network.
