From Roader's Digest: The SABRE Wiki
Route
Section 1: Great Sankey – Orford
A bit of a funny road this, one of two parts. The A574 starts off at the edge of Warrington, at the A57. The road proceeds in a northerly direction, before curving to the east to meet the A49. It sort of makes up a westerly bypass for Warrington, whilst providing easy access to the Gulliver's World theme park and the Gemini Retail Park (chaos at Christmas due to the IKEA being sited there). Between the A57 and A49 there are nine roundabouts, the first six for local estate traffic, whilst the three closest to the A49 are for the retail park and a business park. The junction with the A57 is a set of traffic lights, in contrast, whereby the A49 junction is a traffic light controlled roundabout.
At this point the road disappears, technically multiplexing with the A49 and then the A50.
Section 2: Orford – Leigh
At the A50, now on the eastern side of Warrington, the A49 resumes in a similar way to how it started – a traffic light controlled T-junction. The road proceeds in an easterly direction, heading into a NSL zone, crossing two roundabouts, one for local traffic, the second for the B5210 (a short cut down to the M6 at J21). The road duals for about half a mile, where it comes to an elongated roundabout (perhaps meant to be a GSJ). The road TOTSOs to the north, with a short spur proceeding in an easterly direction up to the M62.
The A574 here curves easterly again (also with numerous roundabouts, three on this section), and TOTSOs again at the fourth. Here the road proceeds north, past Risley prison, and into Culcheth, where the speed limit drops back to 30mph. Passing through this village, there are two mini roundabouts either side of the high school; the first is for the B5207 heading up to Lowton, the second is for the B5212 down to Glazebrook.
The road quickly heads up into Glazebury, passing under the Manchester–Liverpool railway, where George Stephenson ran his famous Rocket train, and then past the massive Bents Garden Centre. The road meets with the A580 at the Greyhound Roundabout (named after the motel on the corner), before crossing over and heading up to Leigh, where it terminates at the A572 in the same way as it starts!!
Original Author(s): Nicholas Lawley
