The A5300 or Knowsley Expressway is a major road in

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

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. It runs from its junction with the

A562 The A562 is a road in England which runs from Liverpool to Warrington. Route Parliament Street At Liverpool, the road is known at first as Parliament Street. Upper Parliament Street to Speke Boulevard It then becomes Upper Parliament Street ...

to its junction with the M62, where it becomes the M57, providing a major north–south route through the borough. Along its course it crosses the

Liverpool to Manchester Line 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 populat ...

Southern route. The road cost £47.3 million () when it was constructed during 1995–1996.

History

The idea of the extension dates back to the early 1970s, when

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was responsible for the region. When Knowsley Metropolitan Borough came into existence around 1986, they prioritised the need for construction of the route and in 1988, appointed consultants to examine the feasibility. Following traffic surveys, it was confirmed that a dual carriageway link road was needed. In total, nine alternate routes were assessed for consideration but many were rejected on environmental grounds. In 1989, Knowsley approached the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...

regarding funding for their preferred route and arranged a 50% grant towards the cost. A

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was needed due to 48 pieces of land needed from private owners to build the road on.

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were confirmed as the chosen constructor in the summer of 1993. Initial groundwork commenced in September 1993 and during early construction, ancient roof tiles dating back to 167 AD were unearthed alongside the path of the new road. The Expressway was constructed during 1995–1996, during which time over of woodland was planted along the embankments. The road took around two and a half years to construct, which involved re-routing streams and planting around half a million trees. The road was opened on 15 April 1996 by Eddie O'Hara MP and the first cars travelled along the road from 2pm the same day. It was estimated that the road would take around 35,000 vehicles each day. During development, Knowsley schools ran a competition for their school pupils to name the new road. The competition was won by a Halsnead Community Primary School pupil who named it the Knowsley Expressway. As with other projects, the A5300 is a downgraded extension of a motorway, in this case the M57.

Improvements

In 2016,

Knowsley Council Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in Merseyside and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, a ...

announced a £5.3m investment to improve the expressway's southern junction with Speke Road, to focus on reducing congestion during peak time and ensure future demand can be met by expected economic growth.

References

External links

Aerial Photo
Roads in England Roads in Merseyside {{England-road-stub