A5103 road

The A5103 is a major road in England, it runs from Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre to junction 3 of the M56 motorway and is one of Manchester's principal radial routes.

Route description

Piccadilly Gardens to the Mancunian Way

This short section is entirely single-carriageway. It runs in a rough south-westerly direction from the junction of the A6 and A62 along "Portland Street". It then shares a short section with the A34 running north until "St. Peter's Square". After St. Peter's Square, it again turns south-west along "Lower Moseley Street", running past the G-MEX centre (formerly Manchester Central Station), and the Bridgewater Hall. It then turns south along "Albion Street" and "Medlock Street", where it meets the A57(M) Mancunian Way at a roundabout.

Mancunian Way to the M60 motorway

This section is entirely dual carriageway primary route leading in a southerly direction. The entire section is officially called "Princess Road", but many locals refer to it as "Princess Parkway" (see below). This section has a 40 mph speed limit.

The road runs through Hulme, Moss Side and Whalley Range, passing William Hulme Grammar School, Whalley Range High School and Manchester Southern Cemetery on the way.

This section has many traffic light controlled junctions, including major junctions with the A6010 Manchester middle ring road and A5145 Barlow Moor Road. About 1 mile south of its junction with the A5145, the road crosses the River Mersey and meets the M60 motorway at a large free-flow interchange at junction 5.

M60 motorway to the M56 motorway

This section is entirely dual carriageway trunk road, and is an important link between the M60 Manchester Outer Ring road and the M56 motorway. This section is called the Princess Parkway and largely has a 50 mph speed limit. Between the M56 and M60, the road has two intermediate junctions; with the B5166 towards Northenden and Sale Moor, and with the A560 leading to Gatley, Wythenshawe and Baguley. Between junctions, the A5103 here has four lanes in each direction with no hard shoulder. Between the on-and-off sliproads of the junctions, it has 3-lanes in each direction with hard-shoulder. At the southern end, the A5103 seamlessly becomes the mainline of the M56 heading towards Manchester Airport, Chester and the M6 motorway. Northbound traffic on the M56 must leave the mainline of the motorway at a sliproad to remain on the M56. Remaining on the mainline leads straight to the A5103.