The A226 road travels in a west–east direction in southeast London and north Kent, from Crayford in the London Borough of Bexley, through Dartford, Gravesend to Strood. It is about 15.7 miles in length. Before road numbering began in the United Kingdom, the road was part of the major route between London and Dover, the road taken by all traffic heading for mainland Europe. When the Ministry of Transport published its first list of road numbers, however, the building of the A2 had already begun; and the earliest map shows the projected route of that latter road; the previous road being relegated to what is now the A226.