A556 road

A556 road

A556 road shield

A556 road

Looking west at Heyesmere towards Chester
Route information
Length: 19 mi (31 km)
Major junctions
North-east end: Delamere, Cheshire
53°12′41″N 2°40′50″W / 53.211468°N 2.680578°W / 53.211468; -2.680578 (A556 road (south western end))
 

A49 A49 road
A559 A559 road
A533 A533 road
A530 A530 road
A5033 A5033 road
[ M 6  ] M6 motorway
A50 A50 road
A5034 A5034 road
A56 A56 road

[ M 56  ] M56 motorway
South-west end: Bowdon in Greater Manchester
53°22′07″N 2°23′11″W / 53.368722°N 2.386351°W / 53.368722; -2.386351 (A556 road (north eastern end))
Location
Primary
destinations
:
Altrincham
Chester
Road network

Roads in the United Kingdom
Motorways • A and B road zones

The A556 is a road in England which extends from the village of Delamere in Cheshire to the village of Bowdon in Greater Manchester. The road contains a mixture of single and dual carriageway sections and forms a large part of the route between Manchester and Chester. The part of the route between the M6 motorway junction 19 and the M56 motorway junction 7 is a major route into Manchester and has been considered for upgrade to Motorway status [1] [2] and was to be known as the A556(M).

The road is frequently very congested, carrying approximately 50,000 vehicles per day, and has a high accident record; between 1998 and 2005, there were around 200 accidents, resulting in 5 fatalities and 39 people being seriously injured[3].

Contents

Route Description

The route begins in the South of Manchester at junction 7 of the M56. It then runs in a Southwesterly direction towards Chester, finishing near Delamere.

At its northern limit, the road ends at a large roundabout with the A56. The A56 continues towards central Manchester via Altrincham. The A556 provides a spur to the M56 at Junction 7. The A556 runs south west as a dual carriageway before changing to a single carriageway with four lanes (that is no physical separation between the traffic flows) and leads to traffic lights at the junction with the A5034 at Bucklow Hill. The route then crosses the A50 at Mere near the Mere Golf and Country Club before continuing to a roundabout at Junction 19 of the M6.

The four-laned single carriageway continues in a south westerly direction to another set of traffic lights. A left (easterly) turn here joins the A5033 towards Knutsford. The road continues curving more towards a westerly direction and undulates on its way towards Northwich with only minor junctions until traffic lights for the junction with Plumley Moor Road (leading towards Plumley) by The Smoker pub.

Hartford Bridge (or Blue Bridge as the A556 crosses the Weaver Navigation.

At the junction with the A559 just outside the village of Lostock Gralam the road becomes dual carriageway again (it gains a central reservation) and turns south to bypass the town of Northwich. As the road skirts the south of Northwich, there is a roundabout with the A530 (south towards Middlewich); traffic lights for the Gadbrook Park industrial estate and another roundabout (the 'Davenham' roundabout) for the A533. The road then crosses the River Weaver by an iron bridge, Hartford Bridge, known locally as the Blue Bridge, before heading in a westerly direction to the village of Sandiway near Cuddington.

The road through the village is limited to 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) and has traffic light junctions with Dalefords Lane/School Lane and the A49. Through Sandiway the road also becomes a two lane carriageway and continues as such to its end. As the road enters Sandiway, the Round Tower Lodge can be seen stranded in the central reservation of the road.

After the A49 junction the road road becomes delimited and turns to a south westerly route past Oakmere and into a 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) limit for the junction with the B5152 that leads north to Delamere and Delamere Forest. The road rises up to finish at a junction with the A54 that continues towards Kelsall and Chester. This junction does not obviously mark the end of the A556 since traffic on the A556 has right of way and traffic on the A54 has to give way to join.

Improvements underway

Proposed Improvement

There are proposals under the Highways Agency's Route Management Strategy (RMS) to gradual upgrading to dual carriageway standard with a 50 mph speed limit, rather than a full upgrade to motorway.[4]

The section of the A556 between the M6 and M56 is a main route into Manchester. In March 2010, the proposed plan was to divert the A556 along this section to avoid Mere and Bucklow Hill at a budgetary cost of £107 million.[5]

External links

References

  1. ^ "A556 (M6 J19 - M56 J7)". Highways Agency. http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/5010.aspx. Retrieved 2008-01-21. 
  2. ^ Statutory Instrument 1996 No. 1649 The A556(M) Motorway (M6 to M56 Link) Supplementary Connecting Roads Scheme 1996
  3. ^ "A556 Knutsford to Bowdon Environmental Improvement". Highways Agency. http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/14909.aspx. Retrieved 2008-01-21. 
  4. ^ "Final route management strategy report". Highways Agency. http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/7347.aspx. Retrieved 2008-01-21. 
  5. ^ "A556 Environment Improvement Leaflet". Highway Agency. http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/documents/A556_Env_Improvments_Leaflet.pdf. Retrieved 2010-06-12. 

Coordinates: 53°15′15″N 2°27′56″W / 53.25407°N 2.46564°W / 53.25407; -2.46564


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • A56 road — UK road routebox road= A56 length mi= 81 length km= direction= North South end= Chester destinations= Burnley Bury Manchester Warrington (South) start= Broughton construction date= completion date= junctions= ukroadsmall|59 ukroadsmall|6068… …   Wikipedia

  • A49 road — UK road routebox road= A49 length mi= 140 length km= 231 direction= South North start= A40 at Ross on Wye destinations= Hereford Leominster Shrewsbury Whitchurch Warrington Wigan end= A6 at Bamber Bridge construction date= completion date=… …   Wikipedia

  • A55 road — The A55 at Warren Mountain. Route information …   Wikipedia

  • A51 road — Major junctions South end: Kingsbury, Warwickshire …   Wikipedia

  • A530 road — The A530 road is a road linking the A525 east of Whitchurch, Shropshire, England with the A559 east of Northwich, in Cheshire. The road follows the route:*A525 *Nantwich *Crewe *Middlewich *A559The road is a non primary route, except between… …   Wikipedia

  • Mere, Cheshire — Contents 1 Geography 2 Transport 3 Notable buildings 4 R …   Wikipedia

  • List of highways numbered 556 — Route 556, or Highway 556, may refer to: Canada Alberta Highway 556 Ontario Highway 556 United Kingdom A556 road United States …   Wikipedia

  • Tatton Park Flower Show — Celebrating Cheshire s Year of Gardens, 2008 The Forest Fusion Garden, 2007 …   Wikipedia

  • Cheshire Show — The Cheshire Show is a big county agricultural show currently held on 2 days in June each year on land west of Flittogate Lane in the Tabley area in Cheshire, England. Because it attracts a huge amount of traffic, traffic coming to it from the… …   Wikipedia

  • Hartford, Cheshire — infobox UK place country = England official name= Hartford map type= Cheshire latitude= 53.2450 longitude= 2.5490 population = 5,515 (2001) country= England region= North West England shire county = Cheshire shire district= Vale Royal… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”