Skip to main content

Highways England announces funding to improve major motorway junction

Highways England has announced plans to invest total of US$3.7 million (£3 million) for major improvements to Switch Island in Merseyside, one of the north-west’s busiest motorway junctions where the M57, M58 and three A roads connect. Construction work at the junction, which is used by over 90,000 vehicles every day, is expected to start next year. The scheme is designed to improve the flow of traffic and enhance safety, following 49 collisions at the junction in the past two years. New traffic light
April 7, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
8101 Highways England has announced plans to invest total of US$3.7 million (£3 million) for major improvements to Switch Island in Merseyside, one of the north-west’s busiest motorway junctions where the M57, M58 and three A roads connect.

Construction work at the junction, which is used by over 90,000 vehicles every day, is expected to start next year. The scheme is designed to improve the flow of traffic and enhance safety, following 49 collisions at the junction in the past two years.

New traffic lights will be installed at a height of over 5 metres – higher than HGVs and double-decker buses – so that drivers approaching the junction can clearly see when the lights are changing.
 
Other improvements will include changes to the road layout and lane markings, new barriers between carriageways, coloured high friction surfaces and better signs.

The scheme is being funded by the government’s US$274 million (£220 million) congestion relief programme, which was announced by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling last month.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Dart Charge goes live on 30 November
    November 14, 2014
    With the launch of Dart Charge set for 30 November, work to remove the toll booths will begin on Friday 28 November - the same weekend the new payment arrangements go live. Dart Charge means that drivers will no longer stop at a barrier to pay the charge. Instead, they will pay online, by phone, by post or in one of thousands of payzone retail outlets. The new payment arrangements will signal the start of major construction work to improve the road layout at the crossing, with 27 lanes of traffic reduced
  • Urban tunnel replaces viaduct, improves safety
    October 10, 2012
    Earthquake sensors, automatic barriers and real time monitoring systems are all part of a scheme to make a major Seattle traffic artery safer, by taking it underground. Huw Williams reports. Seattle’s metropolitan area of 3.5 million people, like much of the western seaboard of the United States, lies in an earthquake zone. In Seattle’s case, the city and its hinterland sit atop a complex network of interrelated active geological faults capable of severe seismic activity and posing complex considerations fo
  • Cycle safety improvements coming for Dunedin, New Zealand
    July 21, 2017
    Work is set to start next month on a cycleway through central Dunedin, New Zealand, that aims to improve safety for cyclists, pedestrians and all road users. Fulton Hogan has been awarded a (US$6 million (NZ$8 million) contract to build new cycle lanes on the north and southbound streets of the State Highway 1 one-way system between the Dunedin Botanical Gardens and Queens Gardens. The work involves replacement of the existing painted cycle lanes, which sit directly next to busy traffic lanes and placing ne
  • Kenya WIM system cuts four days off journey times
    March 18, 2014
    Shem Oirere looks at how weigh-in-motion is helping to streamline the trucking industry in Kenya. Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy, is streamlining trucking operations on its section of the 8,800km Northern Corridor. It is both reducing the number of weighbridges and automating the remaining ones in an effort to improve efficiency and eliminate corruption.The Northern Corridor is a major gateway through Kenya to the landlocked countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sou