B5194

The northern end of Stockbridge Lane (once a part of the B5198 but now a branch of the B5194) approaching a T-junction with Knowsley Lane (the main line of the B5194)

The B5194 is a complicated route in southwest Lancashire.

Originally it started on the A565 in Thornton and headed southeast via Netherton to Aintree. This later became the A5207 and most of that initial section is today the B5207 (with Copy Lane through the centre of Netherton now bypassed), so that the B5194 now starts at traffic lights on the A5036 opposite Copy Lane police station.

From here it heads southeast, crossing the A59 at lights near Old Roan railway station before passing through the centre of Aintree along a road – liberally provided with traffic-calming measures – that runs parallel to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

After passing a turn to the famous Melling Road the B5194 turns right at a mini-roundabout and then crosses a narrow swing bridge over the aforementioned canal before going under three railway bridges in quick succession, only the last of which still carries track. There is then a short semi-rural section as far as a set of traffic lights on the A506.

Originally the road here was the B5192. There was a multiplex east to the edge of Kirkby then the B5194 reappeared and headed south once more. The line of the B5194 has now been taken over by the M57 although the majority of the road is still in existence and is now called Ribbler's Lane.

The B5194 reappears at junction 4 of the M57, where it also meets the A580 and A5207, although the latter appears to be a quite separate route from the A5207 we used to meet back in Aintree. The B5194 now runs parallel to the motorway for the rest of its route.

Heading first east, our road quickly meets its original route before going through the Knowsley Business Park into Knowsley village. Here it TOTSOs right at a triangular junction on the village green, with the B5202 running off to the left. The B5194 continues south along Knowsley Lane through open country before crossing a bridge over the M57.

The next road to the right was originally part of the B5198. However, it is now a spur of the B5194 and heads southwest to a roundabout at the end of the slip roads to motorway junction 3, where it also meets the A526. The mainline of the B5194 carries on along the northern edge of Huyton before ending at the next junction, J2, of the M57, where it meets the A57.