Editing Chatham, Kent (section)

==Transport==
{{main|River Medway}}
The Medway, apart from Chatham Dockyard, has always had an important role in communication: historically it provided a means for the transport of goods to and from the interior of [[Kent]]. Stone, timber and iron from the [[Weald]] for shipbuilding and agricultural produce were among the cargoes. Sun Pier in Chatham was one of many such along the river. By 1740, barges of forty tons could navigate as far upstream as [[Tonbridge]].<ref name="KHI">{{cite book|last=Jessup|first=Frank W.|title =Kent History Illustrated |publisher = Kent County Council| year = 1966}}</ref> Today its use is confined to tourist traffic; apart from the marina, there are many yacht moorings on the river itself.

The position of the road network in Chatham began with the building of the Roman Road ([[Watling Street]], which passed through the town. [[Turnpike trust]]s were established locally, so that the length from Chatham to [[Canterbury]] was [[toll road|turnpiked]] in 1730; and the Chatham to Maidstone road (now the [[A230 road|A230]]) was also turnpiked before 1750. The High Street was bypassed in 1769, by the ''New Road'' (see illustration (1)) leading from the top of Star Hill Rochester, to the bottom of Chatham Hill at Luton Arches. This also became inadequate for the London cross-channel traffic and the ''Medway Towns Bypass'', the [[M2 motorway (England)|M2 motorway]], was constructed to divert through traffic south of the Medway Towns.

Chatham is the hub of the Medway Towns. This fact means that the existing roadway system has always proved inadequate for the amount of traffic it has to handle, and various schemes have been tried by Rochester-Upon-Medway City Council, to alleviate the congestion. The High Street itself is traffic free, so all traffic on Best Street and Railway Street has to skirt around it. The basic west–east routes are The Brook to the north and New Road to the south, but the additional problems caused by the situation of the Pentagon Bus Station meant that conflicting traffic flows were the result, from 1975 and onward. From April 1986 and onward until October 1987, the town centre remodelling of Chatham began, and Railway Street was realigned into becoming part of an inner ring road, that became a one-way system. This redevelopment included the demolition of the House of Holland department store in January 1987, and the construction of the ''Sir John Hawkins Flyover'' in Chatham, that was opened in February 1989, so the traffic could be carried from south to north over the High Street.

In September 2006, the one-way system was abandoned and two-way traffic reintroduced on most of the ring-road system.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/content/articles/2006/09/13/chatham_two_way_feature.shtml |title=Chatham two way |publisher=BBC |year=2006 |access-date=28 January 2009 |archive-date=13 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113204040/http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/content/articles/2006/09/13/chatham_two_way_feature.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> Further work on the road system commenced early in 2009, and as of early 2010, the demolition of the ''Sir John Hawkins Flyover'' has been completed. It was replaced by a street-level, buses only, road coupled with repositioning of the bus station. The new Waterfront bus station opened in October 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.medwaymessenger.co.uk/paper/default.asp?article_id=41215&newspage=9 |title=Town flyover demolition next month |publisher=Medway Messenger |year=2009 |access-date=28 January 2009 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
{{Medway area RDT}}
[[Chatham railway station, Medway|Chatham railway station]], opened in 1858, serves both the [[North Kent Line|North Kent]] and the [[Chatham Main Line]]s, and is the interchange between the two lines. It lies in the valley between the Fort Pitt and the Chatham Tunnels. There are three trains an hour to [[London Victoria railway station|London Victoria]], two trains an hour to [[Charing Cross railway station|London Charing Cross]], two trains an hour to [[Luton railway station|Luton]] (via [[London Bridge railway station|London Bridge]], [[St Pancras railway station|St Pancras]] and [[Luton Airport Parkway railway station|Luton Airport Parkway]]) and two services an hour to St Pancras via [[High Speed 1]]. The former services run to [[Dover Priory railway station|Dover]] and [[Ramsgate railway station|Ramsgate]]; the Charing Cross services terminate at [[Gillingham railway station (Kent)|Gillingham]] and the High Speed services terminate at [[Faversham railway station|Faversham]].

Part of the industrial railway in what is now Chatham Historic Dockyard is still in operation, run by the North Kent Industrial Locomotive Society for the Dockyard Trustees.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dockyardrailway.co.uk/about.php |title=Chatham Historic Dockyard Railway |access-date=22 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130405033754/http://www.dockyardrailway.co.uk/about.php |archive-date=5 April 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Buses are operated by [[Arriva Southern Counties]] and Nu-Venture to various destinations. They serve other towns in [[Medway]] including Gillingham, Grain, [[Strood]] and [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]] and also to other towns in [[Kent]] including [[Maidstone]], [[Gravesend, Kent|Gravesend]], [[Blue Bell Hill (village)|Blue Bell Hill]] and [[Sittingbourne]]. There is also an express bus via Strood and Rochester and [[A2 road (England)|A2]] to [[Bluewater (shopping centre)|Bluewater]] in [[Greenhithe, Kent|Greenhithe]].