Skip to main content

New UK dual carriageway opening

Drivers in the UK are to benefit from the opening of a new dual carriageway connection. The section of road is a key route for Highways England, improving the connection between junction 19 of the M6 and junction 7 of the M56 motorways. The new A556 Knutsford to Bowdon link road will cut congestion and journey times for drivers in the area. As part of the £192 million project to build the new dual carriageway between, Highways England has remodelled slip roads at Yarwood Heath and Bowdon roundabouts. The
December 20, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Drivers in the UK are to benefit from the opening of a new dual carriageway connection. The section of road is a key route for 8100 Highways England, improving the connection between junction 19 of the M6 and junction 7 of the M56 motorways. The new A556 Knutsford to Bowdon link road will cut congestion and journey times for drivers in the area. As part of the £192 million project to build the new dual carriageway between, Highways England has remodelled slip roads at Yarwood Heath and Bowdon roundabouts.

The new dual carriageway is part of a £15 billion investment by the UK Government in motorways and major A roads by 2021, which is being delivered by Highways England as part of the Northern Powerhouse initiative.

Overnight working will mean that by Monday 26th December 2016, drivers leaving the northbound A556 will have direct access onto the eastbound M56 and motorists leaving the westbound M56 will get direct access onto the southbound A556. This will benefit drivers who had to previously negotiate traffic lights and or Bowdon roundabout. The roundabout will now solely be used by drivers joining or leaving the local road network.

This weekend’s work will also mark the re-opening of the M56 eastbound exit slip road at junction 7 after a 5-month closure - with drivers sent onto the new Bowdon roundabout for access to the southbound A556 or local road network, including the A56 local roads for Bowdon and Altrincham. All the new arrangements will be tied-in to the new A556 dual carriageway ahead of its opening in the spring.

The remodelling of slip road arrangements between the existing A556 and junction 7 of the M56 has involved pairing the existing Bowdon roundabout with a new, smaller roundabout which opened in September. The 2 roundabouts are linked by a new bridge – with the new link roads between the A556 and M56 travelling under this.

Construction of the new A556 link road, between the M56 and the M6, started in November 2014 and is due for completion in spring next year.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • The UK’s first PFI road project opens
    May 18, 2012
    A new bypass around Carlisle in North West England has opened to the public two months ahead of schedule. The Carlisle Northern Development Route (CNDR) starts from the Wigton Road (A595) to the south west of Carlisle, follows a route around the west of the city crossing the River Eden on a new bridge near Stainton and the West Coast Main Line on a new two-lane bridge constructed at Kingmoor. The road layout allows easier access to West Cumbria from the roundabout at Junction 44 of the M6 rather than havin
  • Mott MacDonald’s motorway to motorway metering
    December 20, 2017
    Mott MacDonald has developed a Motorway to Motorway (M2M) metering pilot scheme. This has been developed for Highways England and is being trialled between junction 21A of the M6 and junction 10 of the M62. The project is intended to smooth traffic flows and reduce the number of queues that occur because of congestion.
  • Delta Bloc solution for major upgrade to UK’s M6 motorway
    February 8, 2018
    Delta Bloc’s structural precast concrete barriers have been supplied for a €308 million smart motorway project being undertaken by Highways England on the M6 Motorway. UK contractor Charcon Construction Solutions worked with Delta Bloc UK, which develops, manufactures, supplies and installs permanent and temporary concrete road safety barriers. The Highways England scheme between junction 16 at Crewe and junction 19 at Knutsford has seen a new 32km concrete safety barrier installed in the central reservat
  • Construction commencing for Mersey gateway project
    September 15, 2014
    Work is now starting on the road links that will connect to the new Mersey Gateway Bridge, close to the UK city of Liverpool. The first work is being carried out at Junction 12 of the M56 in Runcorn, with workers commencing site clearance at the roundabout where the motorway joins the Weston Point Expressway (A557). This will take around six months to complete, with much of the work being carried out during off-peak traffic times so as to minimise congestion and this portion of the project should be finishe