Major road projects to improve journeys in Merseyside and Cheshire

Two major new road schemes worth more than US$388 million (£300 million) are set to cut congestion and improve journey times for hundreds of thousands of drivers in Merseyside and Cheshire, UK. Highways England has set out its preferred options for upgrading the key route to the Port of Liverpool and creating a new junction on the M56 near Runcorn following public consultations earlier this year.
September 1, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

 Two major new road schemes worth more than US$388 million (£300 million) are set to cut congestion and improve journey times for hundreds of thousands of drivers in Merseyside and Cheshire, UK.

8101 Highways England has set out its preferred options for upgrading the key route to the Port of Liverpool and creating a new junction on the M56 near Runcorn following public consultations earlier this year.

A new three-mile dual carriageway between the motorway network and the port will take freight away from residential areas on the A5036, which has been identified as being the tenth most congested road in England. The bypass will serve the existing port as well as the deep-water container terminal, which is expected to triple the port’s volume of goods by 2030.

The new junction 11a on the M56 will provide a new link to the Mersey Gateway bridge between Runcorn and Widnes and improve local access to the motorway, while the new junction on the M56 will take traffic away from residential areas as well as providing a new route to the Mersey Gateway bridge – an important new link between Cheshire and Merseyside.

A new roundabout, controlled by traffic lights, will also be built at the junction connecting Broom’s Cross Road, Brickwall Lane and the new bypass. Broom’s Cross Road will also be upgraded to a dual carriageway from the new roundabout to Switch Island, where the A5036 connects with the M57 and M58.

Detailed designs for both major road projects will now be developed, with construction work due to start by spring 2020.

Funding for the schemes is being provided as part of the government’s £15 billion Road Investment Strategy (RIS), and will help boost the Northern Powerhouse by improving transport connectivity and reliability to help the economy of the North.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Use of ITS technology grows more prevalent in safety applications
    January 30, 2012
    Transportation agencies and governments are using ITS technology to protect critical infrastructure from terrorist attack and other threats to economic security and public safety. Andrew Bardin Williams reports. It is no secret that we live in a potentially dangerous world. Terrorism as seen on 9/11 in the United States, subsequent attacks in London, Moscow and Madrid and other acts of violence across the developing world have made vigilance the watchword for ensuring security. Key infrastructure is now bei
    Read More
  • Highways England highlights enforcement business
    April 16, 2019
    Enforcement policies need to start focusing much harder on business users, says a new initiative from Highways England. Geoff Hadwick reports on what this could mean for cutting work-related injuries and incidents
    Read More
  • Siemens to supply signals for Yeovil traffic improvement
    June 25, 2018
    Siemens ITS will deliver traffic signals and CCTV equipment to engineering contractor Alun Griffiths in a bid to improve traffic flows in the UK town of Yeovil. The equipment will be implemented along a series of junctions and roundabouts at 11 locations. The 18-month project is part of Somerset County Council’s Yeovil Western Corridor project and is expected to make journeys faster by 23% on the western side and 16% on the eastern side of the town. This contract includes the replacement of expired
    Read More
  • EU funds port development
    December 9, 2014
    The EU's TEN-T Programme is to provide function of over US$1 million for development studies of the Austrian port of Linz, an important intersection of continuously increasing international freight flows between inland water, rail and road transport. The project aims to increase the port's capacity to receive larger inland water, rail and road transport flows. The project features design studies for the expansion of the tri-modal terminal at the port to address its growing needs. It will deliver a maste
    Read More

Highlighted Content