A5117 road

The A5117 is a road in Cheshire, England. It runs between Shotwick and Helsby and connects the A550 at Woodbank to the M56. As such it forms a northerly bypass to Chester and a shorter route between the North West and North Wales than the A55. The road is dualled west of the M56. There is roundabout with the A540 and at Dunkirk at the western terminus of the M56. East of the junction the road is single carriageway and crosses the A41 by way of a roundabout at Backford Cross. The A5117 intersects the M53 at Junction 10. This junction is just east of Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet. The road then continues almost parallel to the M56, which it intersects at Junction 14, at which there is a Motorway Service Area. The road then continues south east to terminate where it joins the A56 at Helsby.

Current Construction

The upgrading of the A5117 on a section west of the M56 motorway, Dunkirk roundabout to Sealand was started in 2006. It is regularly congested but the improvement will see the road converted to grade separated 2-lane dual carriageway standard [http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/5018.aspx] . The Government decided that a motorway standard M56 extension would be too environmentally damaging, and instead opted for a route utilising part of the existing road without widening works, whilst providing off-line bypasses for all of the at-grade junctions. The improvements will tie in to recently completed works over the Welsh border which upgraded the A550 to a standard similar to that of motorways. Work started in late 2006 for completion by mid 2008.

Points of interest

Travelling west the sandstone cliff above Helsby appears as the profile of a man's face. The road passes the Stanlow Refinery which burns off refinery gases.

History

The road was built in the 1930s and known as the "Shotwick - Helsby Bypass". It formed a link between Manchester, the North West and North Wales via the Queensferry Lifting bridge, the A550 and the A494, to join the A55 at Ewloe. Some sections were constructed in concrete. The road was lined for much of its length with poplar trees. This original tree lined boulevard layout is still in evidence on the section adjacent to Stanlow Refinery. In the 1960s it was marked out as a single carriageway 3-lane road. The middle lane was known as the "suicide" lane due to overtaking vehicles from each direction heading towards each other at speed. Vehicles in the nearside lanes wold experience an up and down vertical motion due to the need for "summit and valley" drainage on this otherwise flat section of road.

External links

* [http://www.road-to-nowhere.co.uk/route-guides/A494.htm Road to Nowhere: A5117]
* [http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/documents/A5117_Deeside_park_junctions_improvement_.pdf Maps of current improvement]