The A580 (officially the Liverpool–East Lancashire Road, colloquially the East Lancs Road) is the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

's first purpose-built inter-city highway. The road, which remains a

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

A road A roads may be *motorways or freeways, usually where the local word for motorway begins with A (for example, ''Autobahn'' in German; ''Autostrada'' in Italian). * main roads or highways, in a system where roads are graded A, B and sometimes lower c ...

, was officially opened by King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born duri ...

on 18 July 1934. It links

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, 3 miles west of

Manchester city centre Manchester City Centre is the central business district of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England situated within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way which collectively form an inner ring road. ...

Purpose

The road was built to provide better access between the

Port of Liverpool The Port of Liverpool is the enclosed Dock (maritime), dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, Merseyside, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Great Float, Birkenhead Docks between ...

and the industrial areas of East Lancashire around

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. The new high-quality trunk road would supersede the indirect and heavily built-up A57 through

Prescot Prescot is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it lies about to the east of Liverpool city centre. At the 2001 Census, the civ ...

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

and Eccles. Journey times for road

haulage Haulage is the business of transporting goods by road or rail between suppliers and large consumer outlets, factories, warehouses, or depots. This includes everything humans might wish to move in bulk - from vegetables and other foodstuffs, to cloth ...

would be reduced to under an hour. This road was built with a 1930s Dutch-style cycle path running its entire length. Many roads at this time were built with cycle paths but most have been lost due to road widening schemes.

History

First phase (completed)

The first part, which was completed within three years, was from

Walton, Liverpool Walton is an area of Liverpool, England, north of Anfield and east of Bootle and Orrell Park. Historically in Lancashire, it is largely residential, with a diverse population. History The name may derive from the same origin as Wales. The inco ...

, to the junction with the A6 at

Irlams o' th' Height Irlams o' th' Height is a suburb of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is located on top of the Irwell Valley, on higher ground than Pendleton, hence the reference to ''The Height''. The first part of the name derives from the Irlam fami ...

. The road was constructed in an almost straight alignment with few curves. To be a high-speed trunk route, its 1930s planners designed some parts to be three roads in one. The central section was exclusively for through traffic while adjacent side roads – either side of the main carriageway – provided local access. Although the sections within Liverpool were

dual carriageway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

from the beginning, a few short stretches through Salford continue to use the original three-lane layout. The rest of the road was converted to dual with a

central reservation The median strip, central reservation, roadway median, or traffic median is the reserved area that separates opposing lanes of traffic on divided roadways such as divided highways, dual carriageways, freeways, and motorways. The term also a ...

in the 1950s and 1960s. Many of the original 1930s bridges remain; they were built from steel in preparation for any future expansion as they would be easier to replace than ones constructed from moulded concrete. The road remains the UK's largest pre-motorway project. In 2004 the

Highways Agency National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency and later Highways England, is a government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving motorways and major A roads in England. It also sets highways standards used by all fo ...

detrunked the road, passing control and maintenance over to the local authorities along its route.

Second phase (never developed)

With the completion of the first phase, the next stage was to extend the road beyond Salford and into East Lancashire proper. However this was never undertaken. Its failure was largely due to the road's location. Despite linking North West England's largest cities, the East Lancs remained isolated from the rest of the UK's national road network. Both ends of the highway began in high-density urban areas that were not close to any comparable infrastructure that could assist rapid transit connections. By 1942, proposals were put forward to extend the A580 across the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...

to Hull on the east coast of Britain. Although this plan never came to fruition, its purpose became the foundation for the construction of the

M62 motorway The M62 is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting Liverpool and Hull via Manchester, Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield; of the route is shared with the M60 orbital motorway around Manchester. The road is part of ...

in 1960.

Gallery

Croxteth Brook flowing north from A580 bridge.jpg, View from the bridge on the A580 slip road A580 bridge over Croxteth Brook 3.jpg, A580 bridge over Croxteth Brook 3.jpg

References

External links

Lancashire Motorway & Roads Site
* http://www.bikeboom.info/1930s/ {{DEFAULTSORT:5-0580 Roads in England Roads in Cheshire Roads in Greater Manchester Transport in Liverpool Transport in Manchester Roads in Merseyside