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

  • Highways England strategic business plan promises more smart motorways
    December 12, 2014
    Improved customer service, better planning and stronger relationships are at the heart of a five-year plan which sets out how England’s motorways and major A roads will be modernised, maintained and operated between 2015 and 2020. The pledges are made in the first Strategic Business Plan published by Highways England, which focuses on modernising, maintaining and operating the network, making specific commitments, including modernising core motorways and upgrading some of the most important major routes to
    Read More
  • London to benefit from major roads programme
    March 4, 2014
    Dozens of locations across the UK capital are set to be transformed in a US$6.7 billion programme as part of the largest investment in the capital’s road and street network in a generation. In response to the recommendations of the Mayor’s Roads Task Force, a total of 50 projects are now underway. Alongside the transformation of 33 of London’s biggest and nastiest road junctions announced last week as part of the Mayor’s cycling programme, there will also be more than US$334 million of additional far-re
    Read More
  • Balfour Beatty and Mott MacDonald secure contract expansion for Area 10
    October 17, 2017
    Highways England has awarded a £115 million ($152 million) asset support contract extension of 17 months to Balfour Beatty and Mott MacDonald to continue its service delivery for Area 10; covering Merseyside, Cheshire, Lancashire and Greater Manchester. The contract will run from November 2017 to March 2019. The current asset support contract delivers a range of service delivery and maintenance activities such as 24/7 incident response, to ensuring the safe operation of the 570km of the road network.
    Read More
  • Van driver banned for ignoring motorway incident road block
    October 18, 2018
    A van driver who ignored a Highways England road block on the UK’s M42 motorway has been banned from driving for six months. The case highlights the need for incident zone safety: the road block had been put in place by traffic officers following a fatal crash. Richard Leonard, head of road safety at Highways England, said: “We hope this case sends out an important message because those who ignore road closures put other people’s safety in jeopardy and this was clearly the case here for our traffic officers
    Read More

Highlighted Content