Trunk A-road
A249 traffic and collisions
The A249 is a trunk A-road of 21.1 miles, in Kent. This page covers its traffic at 14 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 300m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 38,931 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 61,883 M2 spur road roundabout to A2
- HGV share 8.6% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 +3.5% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 261 19.7 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A249?
On an average day in 2025, 38,931 vehicles passed each point on the A249, counting both directions. The busiest section is M2 spur road roundabout to A2 (Kent), with 61,883 a day; the quietest listed is B2007 to A249/road to Garrison Point, Sheerness, with 9,963.
Busiest sections, 2025
M2 spur road roundabout to A2 carries 1.6 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| M2 spur road roundabout to A2 Kent · 2.1 mi · HGVs 9.6% | 61,883 |
| M20 to M2 spur roads roundabout Kent · 5.5 mi · HGVs 7.6% | 48,319 |
| A2/A249(Trunk) Roundabout to B2005 Grovehurst Road Kent · 1.9 mi · HGVs 9.2% | 46,465 |
| B2005 to A2500 Kent · 3.4 mi · HGVs 9.2% | 46,465 |
| Key Street Roundabout to A2/A249(Trunk) Roundabout Kent · 0.9 mi · HGVs 12.0% | 42,582 |
| M2 spur roads roundabout to M20 Kent · 0.7 mi · HGVs 9.6% | 30,941 |
| A2500 to A250 Kent · 0.9 mi · HGVs 8.3% | 26,209 |
| A20 King Street to spur to M20 Kent · 1.4 mi · HGVs 1.8% | 20,481 |
| B2007 to A249/road to Garrison Point, Sheerness Kent · 2.5 mi · HGVs 12.2% | 9,963 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
In Kent · 21.1 miles
A249 traffic and collisions by section
12 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 2 short link roads and spurs (1.0 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A229 Mill Street to A229 Lower Stone StreetKent | 7,812 | 4 |
| 2 | A229 to A20Kent | 19,519 | 15 |
| 3 | A20 King Street to spur to M20Kent | 20,481 | 25 |
| 4 | Bearsted Rd to M20Kent | 18,637 | 12 |
| 5 | M20 to M2 spur roads roundaboutKent | 48,319 | 79 |
| 6 | M2 spur roads roundabout to M20Kent | 30,941 | fewer than 3 |
| 7 | M2 spur road roundabout to A2Kent | 61,883 | 15 |
| 8 | Key Street Roundabout to A2/A249(Trunk) RoundaboutKent | 42,582 | 9 |
| 9 | A2/A249(Trunk) Roundabout to B2005 Grovehurst RoadKent | 46,465 | 14 |
| 10 | B2005 to A2500Kent | 46,465 | 24 |
| 11 | A2500 to A250Kent | 26,209 | 11 |
| 12 | B2007 to A249/road to Garrison Point, SheernessKent | 9,963 | 27 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A249 as the first road, placed on the nearest section by their recorded position; rates (per 100 million vehicle miles) are shown for sections of half a mile or more with 10 or more.
A249 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 70.9% of the vehicle miles on the A249. HGVs account for 8.6%, rising to 12.2% on B2007 to A249/road to Garrison Point, Sheerness.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 9.2% |
| 2001 | 8.9% |
| 2002 | 8.5% |
| 2003 | 8.3% |
| 2004 | 8.4% |
| 2005 | 8.0% |
| 2006 | 7.8% |
| 2007 | 8.3% |
| 2008 | 8.4% |
| 2009 | 7.8% |
| 2010 | 7.8% |
| 2011 | 8.8% |
| 2012 | 8.5% |
| 2013 | 9.1% |
| 2014 | 9.1% |
| 2015 | 9.1% |
| 2016 | 9.1% |
| 2017 | 8.8% |
| 2018 | 9.0% |
| 2019 | 9.5% |
| 2020 | 10.0% |
| 2021 | 10.3% |
| 2022 | 9.9% |
| 2023 | 9.4% |
| 2024 | 9.5% |
| 2025 | 8.6% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A249 traffic trend
Traffic on the A249 came to 300 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 3.5% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 26.9% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is down 3.3% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 184m |
| 2001 | 192m |
| 2002 | 204m |
| 2003 | 204m |
| 2004 | 207m |
| 2005 | 203m |
| 2006 | 208m |
| 2007 | 206m |
| 2008 | 207m |
| 2009 | 203m |
| 2010 | 222m |
| 2011 | 216m |
| 2012 | 216m |
| 2013 | 214m |
| 2014 | 223m |
| 2015 | 233m |
| 2016 | 241m |
| 2017 | 255m |
| 2018 | 276m |
| 2019 | 271m |
| 2020 | 238m |
| 2021 | 244m |
| 2022 | 252m |
| 2023 | 262m |
| 2024 | 266m |
| 2025 | 300m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 26,482 |
| 2001 | 27,655 |
| 2002 | 29,472 |
| 2003 | 29,371 |
| 2004 | 29,887 |
| 2005 | 29,263 |
| 2006 | 29,985 |
| 2007 | 29,495 |
| 2008 | 29,671 |
| 2009 | 29,179 |
| 2010 | 31,842 |
| 2011 | 31,009 |
| 2012 | 31,015 |
| 2013 | 30,741 |
| 2014 | 31,917 |
| 2015 | 33,482 |
| 2016 | 34,556 |
| 2017 | 36,547 |
| 2018 | 38,315 |
| 2019 | 37,621 |
| 2020 | 33,137 |
| 2021 | 33,976 |
| 2022 | 35,021 |
| 2023 | 36,372 |
| 2024 | 36,562 |
| 2025 | 38,931 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
The chart counts the whole road as it was each year, so new or renumbered stretches move it. The percentage changes compare only count points present in both years (42.7% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 6 of the 14 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A249 collisions
Police recorded 261 collisions with the A249 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 57 of them fatal or serious, including 5 fatal. That is 19.7 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 2.5 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
About the same in 2025 as in 2021.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 44 | 10 |
| 2022 | 51 | 11 |
| 2023 | 43 | 9 |
| 2024 | 28 | 11 |
| 2025 | 38 | 16 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
Sections with the highest collision rates
Per 100 million vehicle miles, 2021 to 2025. Sections of half a mile or more with 10 or more collisions.
| Section | Per 100m vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| M20 to M2 spur roads roundabout Kent · 79 collisions | 81.4 |
| B2007 to A249/road to Garrison Point, Sheerness Kent · 27 collisions | 62.1 |
| A20 King Street to spur to M20 Kent · 25 collisions | 49.3 |
| M2 spur road roundabout to A2 Kent · 15 collisions | 31.6 |
| A2500 to A250 Kent · 11 collisions | 27.2 |
| A2/A249(Trunk) Roundabout to B2005 Grovehurst Road Kent · 14 collisions | 22.3 |
| B2005 to A2500 Kent · 24 collisions | 9.0 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 30 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A249 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A249
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Kent
Data sources and methodology
| Figures | Source | Period | Records | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traffic counts and vehicle mix | Road traffic statistics (AADF by count point) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2000 to 2025 | 14 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 261 reported collisions | 15 September 2026 |
- Annual average daily flow (AADF) is the average number of vehicles passing a point on a typical day of the year, both directions combined.
- Vehicle miles are AADF multiplied by link length and 365, summed over every count point link on the road.
- Sections join count point links between junctions, using the link lines in DfT’s major road database.
- STATS19 covers personal injury collisions reported to the police. Damage-only collisions are not included, and not every injury collision is reported.
- Serious and slight figures are DfT’s adjusted estimates, which allow for police forces moving to injury-based reporting.
- Counts of one or two collisions below Great Britain level are shown as “fewer than 3”.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.