Croft Interchange
Croft Interchange | |||
Location Map ( geo) | |||
| |||
County | |||
Lancashire | |||
Highway Authority | |||
National Highways | |||
Junction Type | |||
Partially unrolled cloverleaf | |||
Roads Joined | |||
M6, M62 | |||
Croft Interchange is junction 21A of the M6 and junction 10 of the M62.
Croft Interchange dates from the construction of the Liverpool-Manchester section of the M62 in the early 1970s. The M6 here had been open since July 1963; the M62 to the west was opened in November 1973 and to the east in April 1974[1].
The layout of the junction obviously suggests that it was designed in the expectation that the most important turning movements would be M6(S)<->M62(W), but in practice M6(S)<->M62(E) proved heaviest. Originally the slip roads from the eastbound and westbound M62 to the southbound M6 merged with each other before merging with the mainline, but this was changed when the M6 was widened southwards from here to the M56 in the 1990s.
One likely reason for the layout is that is that, while the M62 was under construction, Liverpool experienced an economic downturn, which meant traffic levels coming from that direction didn't rise as quickly as they did on other routes. It's also worth remembering that that there had been proposals for another motorway between the M6 and Manchester which never materialised, meaning that arm of this interchange is more important than had been anticipated.
Croft is a very similar layout to Denham and Winnersh Interchanges, with variations in size and orientation, except that at Croft one left-turn slip road is on the inside.
Routes
Route | To | Notes |
Preston, Wigan, St Helens | ||
Birmingham, Manchester (S & Airport), Warrington, Chester (M56) | ||
Liverpool, Warrington (N), Southport (M57) | ||
Manchester, Leeds, Bolton | ||
Liverpool, Warrington (N), Southport (M57) | proposed number for M62 | |
Manchester, Leeds, Bolton (M62) | proposed number for M62 |
References