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M56

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M56
Location Map ( geo)
Cameraicon.png View gallery (71)
North Cheshire Motorway
From:  Gatley (SJ846890)
To:  Mollington (SJ371721)
Distance:  34 miles (54.7 km)
Meets:  M6, M53, M60, A34, A494, A49, A56, A5103, A5117
Primary Destinations
Highway Authorities

National Highways

Traditional Counties

Cheshire

Route outline (key)
M56 Gatley - Mollington
Junction List
Junc Westbound Eastbound
1 Start of Road M60, A34
2 A560 No Exit
3 No Exit A5103
4 Local road No Exit
5 Airport Spur Airport Spur
6 A538 A538
7 A556, A56 A56
8 Entry only
9 M6, A50 M6
Services symbol.gif Lymm services (at J9)
10 A49 A49
11 A56 A56
11A A533 No Exit
12 A557 A557
14 A5117 A5117
Services symbol.gif Chester services (at J14)
15 M53 No Exit
16 A494 Start of Road
Bridge carrying the A56 over the M56 at Sutton Weaver

The M56 North Cheshire Motorway between Manchester and Chester links the M60 to the M6, the M53, and North Wales.

Junctions 1 and 2 – the Kingsway and Sharston interchanges – are on what is generally referred to the Sharston Spur, although this section is considerably longer than the "main line" from Manchester city centre. The latter comes in at Junction 3 as a 900-m long southern extension of the road it was once planned would form part of the "Princess Parkway Motorway", although it never in fact achieved that status: the A5103.

Two more short spurs, respectively 1.5 and 1.6 km in length, lead from Junction 5 to Manchester Airport and from Junction 7 to the A56/A556 at Bowdon Roundabout.

The motorway's western terminus is an end-to-end junction with the latterly extended A494 at the north end of Mollington parish and immediately west-south-west of Dunkirk Roundabout (the former terminus, but now linked directly only to the eastbound carriageway of the M56).

Notable Locations

Weaver Viaduct

Weaver Viaduct M56 crossing the Weaver Navigation - Geograph - 5159471.jpg

Weaver Viaduct is one of the outstanding features of M56 and its design was approved by the Royal Fine Arts Commission. The three-quarter mile of elevated motorway and approach embankments over the River Weaver and Weaver Navigation Canal opened on 21 February 1971.

Services

Chester services

Chester Services M56 - Geograph - 1459873.jpg
Main Article: Chester services

Chester services opened as a full MSA in 1998; the site previously was a picnic area. The only services area on the M56, it is off the roundabout carrying the A5117 over the motorway at Junction 14 near Elton.

Incidents

  • At junction 7 in July 2009, the slip road letting traffic come in southbound along the M56 and turn onto the A556 southbound was closed while the bridge where it crosses the M56 (the Bowdon View Bridge), which for many years had had a weight restriction, was worked on; traffic intending to use it had to carry on to junction 10 and there turn round, or go through the centre of Altrincham; traffic for the nearby simultaneous Tatton Park Flower Show, and the resulting closure to through traffic of the minor road along the southwest edge of Tatton Park from Ashley, Cheshire to Mere, Cheshire (which would otherwise have acted as a bypass for people living in the area), added to the resulting congestion.
    In October and November 2010, the bridge was demolished and replaced.
  • On Saturday 28 February and Sunday 1 March 2015, the new concrete girders of the Thorley Lane bridge a little north of Manchester Airport were put in. (The old bridge was demolished because it was found to be cracking.) The M56 was closed over that weekend for this. This caused much traffic congestion from M56 traffic diverted through Altrincham and Styal Road and Wythenshawe and Kingsway, starting on Thursday 26 March because of work putting cones on the carriageway.

Opening dates

For detailed information about this section, see Roads.org.uk Motorway Database: M56 Timeline


Links

Roads.org.uk

Roads UK

Pathetic Motorways




M56
Junctions
Services
Crossings
Roads
Places
Miscellaneous
Related Pictures
View gallery (71)
M56 J9 - Coppermine - 22912.jpgM56 East bound juc 10-9 - Geograph - 1679781.jpgLymm Interchange.PNGOld Manchester 8. M56 & Airport Spur - Coppermine - 234.jpgCheshire Area Road Network Outline Proposals 16 Jan 1970.jpg
Other nearby roads
Manchester
A6 • A6(M) (Bredbury - Hazel Grove) • A34 • A56 • A57 • A57(M) • A62 • A526 (Newcastle-under-Lyme - Salford) • A555 • A560 • A576 • A580 • A635 • A635(M) • A662 • A663 • A664 • A665 • A5014 • A5067 • A5068 (Manchester) • A5079 • A5081 • A5103 • A5145 • A5184 • A5219 • A6010 • A6041 • A6042 • A6044 • A6103 (Manchester) • A6104 • A6143 • B529 • B5093 • B5095 • B5117 • B5166 • B5167 • B5168 • B5217 • B5218 • B5219 • B5220 • B5221 • B5222 (Manchester) • B5223 • B5224 • B5225 • B5290 (Wythenshawe - Moss Side) • B5317 (Manchester) • B5410 (Manchester) • B6167 • B6178 • B6179 (Manchester) • B6180 • B6181 • B6182 • B6185 • B6393 • B6410 (Lancashire) • B6469 • City Centre Road • E20 • E22 • E109 (Old System) • M52 • M60 • M60 (Knutsford - Manchester) • M61 • M62 • M62 Relief Road • M63 • M64 (Eccles - Salford) • M66 • M67 • M68 • M602 • Manchester Inner Ring Road • Northern and Western Motorway • Princess Parkway Motorway • RM7 • T12 (Britain) • T18 (Britain) • T21 (Britain) • T60 (Britain) • T61 (Britain)
Chester
A41 • A51 • A54 • A55 • A56 • A483 • A529 (Chester - Hinstock) • A540 • A548 • A5032 • A5104 • A5115 • A5116 • A5268 • A5480 • B5104 • B5129 • B5130 • B5131 • E22 • Ffordd Gogledd Cymru • M53 • M53/Unbuilt Southern Extension • RM7 • T14 (Britain) • T18 (Britain) • T19 (Britain)
Stockport
NCN55 • A6 • A6(M) (Bredbury - Hazel Grove) • A6(M) (Heaton Norris - Hazel Grove) • A34 • A523 • A555 • A560 • A626 • A627 • A5035 (Stockport) • A5102 • A5143 • A5145 • A5149 • A6017 • A6180 • A6188 • B5093 (Cheshire) • B5094 • B5095 • B5169 • B5423 • B5465 • B6101 • B6102 • B6103 • B6104 • B6167 • B6168 (Stockport) • B6171 • B6184 • C453 (Stockport) • C462 (Stockport) • M60 • M63 • M66 • M68 • T12 (Britain) • T55 (Britain) • T59 (Britain)
Warrington
Runcorn
A56 • A533 • A557 • A558 • A5126 • A5133 • B5154 • B5155 • B5310 (Cheshire) • B5438 • E22 • T58 (Britain)
Motorways in Great Britain
Current MotorwaysM1 • M2 • M3 • M4 • M5 • M6 • M6 Toll • M8 • M9 • M11 • M18 • M20 • M23 • M25 • M26 • M27 • M32 • M40 • M42 • M45 • M48 • M49 • M50 • M53 • M54 • M55 • M56 • M57 • M58 • M60 • M61 • M62 • M65 • M66 • M67 • M69 • M73 • M74 • M77 • M80 • M90 • M180 • M181 • M271 • M275 • M602 • M606 • M621 • M876 • M898
A1(M) • A3(M) • A8(M) • A14(M) • A38(M) • A48(M) • A57(M) • A58(M) • A64(M) • A66(M) • A74(M) • A92(M) • A167(M) • A168(M) • A194(M) • A195(M) • A308(M) • A329(M) • A404(M) • A601(M) • A627(M) • A635(M) • A666(M) • A823(M) • A1058(M) • A1077(M)
Motorway Spurs • (M4 Heathrow Spur • M25 T5 Spur • Walton Summit M'way)
Former MotorwaysM10 • M15 • M16 • M30 • M41 • M52 • M62 • M63 • M64 • M65 • M68 • M85 • M110 • M111 • M270 • M274 • M531 • M600
A2(M) • A4(M) • A5(M) • A8(M) • A11(M) • A18(M) • A20(M) • A21(M) • A23(M) • A36(M) • A40(M) (Central London) • A40(M) (Buckinghamshire) • A41(M) • A46(M) • A48(M) (Morriston) • A48(M) (Port Talbot) • A65(M) • A102(M) (North) • A102(M) (South) • A423(M) • A446(M) • A604(M) • A638(M) • A696(M) • A1231(M) • A6127(M) • A6138(M) • A6144(M)
Unbuilt MotorwaysM4 Toll • M12 (Woodford - Brentford) • M12 (Woodford - Maplin) • M12 (Brentwood - -Chelmsford) • M13 • M17 • M19 • M31 • M58 • M59 • M60 • M62 RR • M64 • M81 • M82 • M83 • M100 • M272 • M601 • M650
A2(M) • A6(M) (West) • A6(M) (East) • A14(M) • A48(M) • A59(M) • A61(M) • A556(M) • A695(M)
A Ring • Bilston Link • Belmont Link • B-W M'way • CME Bypass • CMW • Central Spine • Chippenham Spur • Coventry N-S M'way • Cublington Airport M'way • Denham Spur • Derby Urban M'way • Droitwich-Leicester M'way • East Coast M'way • EXR • East Kilbride M'way • E-W Underground M'way • Eastern M'way • Euroroute • Friars Goose Xing • Furness Link • Glasgow IRR • GM Western Relief Road • Hamilton-Cumbernauld M'way • Hook Road • Johnstone M'way • Kendal Link • Liverpool Inner M'way • LOX M'way • Malvern Radial • Manchester IRR • Morecambe Link • NE Urban M'way • NXR • N&W M'way • Paisley-Hamilton M'way • POLO • Princess P'way M'way • Reading Urban M'way • Ringway 2 • Sheffield Spur • S Bristol Spur • SCRPDR • SXR • Stirling Corner Link • Strensham-Solihill M'way • Strensham-Solihill M'way • TGAAR • Townhill Link • Trafford Park M'way • Warndon Radial • Watford Urban M'Way • Western Orbital • Weston Spur


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