A556 Knutsford to Bowdon Improvement


In November 2014 work began on a £200m project to improve the A556 between the M56 and M6. The project involves constructing a new 7.5km 4 lane dual carriageway between the two motorways in order to relieve congestion on this stretch of the road.

The A556 is a major trunk road which serves north Cheshire and south Manchester. The section of road also provides a connection between the M6 at junction 19 and M56 at junction 7.

The A556 between junction 19 of the M6 and junction 7 of the M56 currently carries 51,000 vehicles per day, 11% of which are HQVs. The road is currently a mixture of single 4-lane carriageway, with sections of dual 2-lane carriageway, along which are several junctions and a number of properties.

As a result of this the road is often severely congested, particularly at peak times. And according to the Highways Agency there were 98 incidents along this stretch, including 1 fatality and 13 serious injuries in the period January 2007 to December 2011.

The project will also involve reconfiguring the junction at Bowdon in order to create a grade separated overpass. The new junction will improve the link between the M56 junction 7, A556 and the turn off for Altrincham.

The original A556 route will be "de-trunked" reducing it to a single carriageway after the new section of road is complete. The existing southbound carriageway will become two lanes and the northbound carriageway will be used to provide a pathway for pedestrians, cyclists and equestrians.

Facts and figures
  • 51,000 vehicles per day currently use the A556
  • Cost of the project is estimated at £165m to £221m 
  • A new 7.5km grade separated dual carriageway will be constructed
  • 130,000 tonnes of tarmac will be layed
  • 300 people employed on site
  • 5 new overpasses will be constructed 
  • The project will take approximately 2 years to complete 
  • The main contractor for the project is Costain
For more information visit the Highways Agency website 

Map of the new A566 by-pass (click to enlarge)


The images below were taken from the site at Bowdon, where work has begun to build a new junction.







Follow us on Twitter - Facebook  For more information e-mail Blog@EngineeringFocus.co.uk

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Re-blog: Improving links between North West England and North Wales

Image
A version of this article was published in Rail Magazine in December 2021 As someone who lives on the Wirral and frequently travels to North Wales via the A494 through Queensferry, and has been a committee member of the Wrexham-Bidston Rail User's Association for a number of years, I'm well aware of current poor transport connections between North West England and North Wales. The bridge which carries the A494 over the River Dee and on to the A55 was used by 60,000 vehicles a day before the Pandemic. So, knowing how busy the A494 can get, particularly during school holidays and on Fridays before bank holidays when people flock to North Wales, I supported a proposal to build a new link road from the A548 Flintshire bridge to the A55, a proposal known as the " Red Route ". You may be wondering what if anything roads have to do with railways? Well, recently my support for the " Red Route " has started to wane, especially as awareness of the climate emergency ...
Read more

End of the line nearing for Merseyrail's 508s and 507s

Image
On Sunday 16th of August, a pair of Merseyrail class 508s left Birkenhead North depot for the last time. The units were hauled by a class 57 operated by Rail Operations Group over the Wrexham-Bidston line, then on to Craven Arms, there they would remain overnight before being taken to Newport docks, where they are to be scrapped. The scrapping of Merseyrail's fleet of class 508 and 507 units has been on the cards for some time, as they are to be replaced by new class 777 units built by Stadler. However, 110 and 134 have been retired much earlier than their classmates and months before the expected introduction of the first class 777. It appears 110 and 134 had reached their mileage limit and were in need of an overhaul, therefore with new units on the way it wasn't deemed cost-effective to keep them in service. Space at Metseyrail's Birkenhead North and Kirkdale depots will also start to become limited as more class 777s arrive. 6 have arrived so far and are being stabled ...
Read more

Western Link HVDC project

Image
The Western Link HVDC ( High Voltage Direct Current ) project is a joint venture between National Grid and Scottish Power to create a High Voltage electricity transmission link between Scotland, England and Wales. The link is required in order to increase transmission capacity between Scotland, England and Wales. The link will transmit power from renewable sources in Scotland to Deeside in North Wales, from where it can be distributed via high voltage overhead wires. This £1bn project involves laying a 385km long High Voltage Direct Current cable under the sea between Scotland and the Wirral in the North West of England. Construction of the Western Link is being carried out by a consortium of Siemens and Prysmian In Scotland the subsea cable will be connected to a converter station under construction at Hunterston on the Western coast. This is where alternating current will be converted to direct current for transmission along the subsea cable. From Ardneil Bay in ...
Read more