The Dartford Crossing is much maligned by motorists and we thought it was time to show the old bridge-tunnel combo some love. So here’s 13 reasons we think it is ace.

It is patriotic

News Shopper: THE Queen visits Bromley as part of her diamond jubilee tour of the country.

Guys, it’s called the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge so you must respect it.

It’s rural

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Sure, a road which has 200,000 cars a day and connects to the M25 may not feel like a country backwater, but remarkably it was revealed earlier this year that the Government was not reporting pollution levels to the EU because it was classified as rural. And everyone loves the countryside, don’t they?

It is a bit like a playground

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Like a massive tunnel and slide, innit.

It goes underwater

Let’s not forget the tunnel actually burrows under the Thames. If you don’t appreciate how much of a miracle that is then look again.

The shopping

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Not actually on the crossing itself, silly. If you are a shopping fan then there could surely be nothing better than having Lakeside on one side and Bluewater on the other.

There’s also going to be a Taco Bell on either side

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An application for a Taco Bell was recently submitted in Dartford and there’s already an outlet of the Mexican fast food joint at Lakeside. Heaven.

Read more: Dartford set to be first Kent town with a Taco Bell as KFC looks set to move into the High Street

It's part of the Harry Potter-verse

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We’d all like to be able to avoid traffic on the Dartford crossing but it takes a wizard to actually pull it off. Hogwarts’ finest Harry Potter filmed at the tunnel in a dramatic chase in flying sidecar with Hagrid on the bike in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part One (2010)

It is better than a ferry

News Shopper: A catamaran car ferry like those proposed for Minehead.

Maybe not more fun but, come on, could you really face having to get on a boat just to get to Essex?

It’s the only thing people know about Dartford...

News Shopper: CHEAPER TICKETS AVAILABLE: The Dartford Crossing.

…So we might as well embrace it

It brings people to Dartford

…and takes them away again. Double win.

It has given us an iconic skyline

News Shopper: NORTH KENT: Government to sell Dartford Crossing in the summer

You can see it for miles and feel like you’re home

It is an engineering marvel

News Shopper: Charges on the Dartford crossing have risen

At the time of its construction it was the longest cable-stayed bridge in Europe, measuring 2.87km in length, with 84m tall concrete masts and a minimum clearance of 57.5m above high water. Impressive, eh?

Even the aliens love it

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It looks like they visited in 2011. I mean, what else could it have been?