The M56 motorway, also known as the North Cheshire motorway, serves the

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

and

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

areas of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It runs east to west from junction 4 of the M60 at

Gatley Gatley is a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, 3 miles north-east of Manchester Airport. History Toponymy Within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, in 1290, Gatley was known as ''Gate ...

, south of

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 ...

, to Dunkirk, approximately north of

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

. With a length of , it connects

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

and the

Wirral peninsula Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to t ...

with much of the rest of

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

, serves business and commuter traffic heading towards

, particularly that from the wider Cheshire area, and provides the main road access to

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those n ...

from the national

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

network. Between junctions 9 and 16, the motorway forms part of the unsigned

European route The international E-road network is a numbering system for roads in Europe developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The network is numbered from E1 up and its roads ...

E22 on its route in the UK between

Holyhead Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

and

Immingham Immingham is a town, civil parish and ward in the North East Lincolnshire unitary authority of England. It is situated on the south-west bank of the Humber Estuary, and is north-west from Grimsby. The region was relatively unpopulated and un ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

Route

Although the main line of the motorway starts as a continuation of the A5103 Princess Parkway, the M56 begins on the Sharston Spur (also known as the Sharston Bypass) where it leaves the

M60 motorway The M60 motorway, Manchester Ring Motorway or Manchester Outer Ring Road is an orbital motorway in North West England. Built over a 40-year period, it passes through most of Greater Manchester's metropolitan boroughs except for Wigan and Bol ...

at its junction 4 (clockwise exit and anticlockwise entry), adjacent to where the slip roads for the A34 to and from

merge and diverge. After passing through junctions 1 and 2, the spur joins the main line at junction 3, increasing the motorway from two lanes to four in each direction. The motorway then heads south to the west of

Wythenshawe Wythenshawe () is a district of the city of Manchester, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Cheshire, Wythenshawe was transferred in 1931 to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a massive housing estate there in the ...

and

until it reaches junction 6, where it turns west before crossing into

at the

River Bollin The River Bollin is a major tributary of the River Mersey in the north-west of England. It rises in Macclesfield Forest at the western end of the Peak District, and can be seen in spring form, from the Buxton to Macclesfield road. The stream t ...

underbridge. It runs to the south of

Hale Hale may refer to: Places Australia *Hale, Northern Territory, a locality *Hale River, in southeastern Northern Territory Canada *Hale, Ontario, in Algoma District United Kingdom * Hale, Cumbria, a hamlet near Beetham, Cumbria *Hale, Greater Man ...

before reaching junctions 7 and 8 which are part of the same interchange complex. Junction 8 was planned to be used by the proposed A556(M) but is now a single 270 degree loop between the southbound onslip from Bowdon roundabout to the westbound carriageway since the

A556 The A556 is a road in England which extends from the village of Delamere in Cheshire West and Chester to the Bowdon Interchange in Cheshire East, bordering Greater Manchester. The road contains a mixture of single and dual carriageway sect ...

towards the

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 and the western end of the A14 at t ...

was upgraded to dual carriageway in 2017. Traffic destined for the southbound M6 is directed to leave here (because there are no corresponding slip roads at its own junction) and so the junction can suffer from congestion. Traffic levels on the mainline drop significantly as the motorway begins to assume a more traditional feel (three lanes and a hard shoulder per direction) whilst passing between

Broomedge Broomedge is a village in Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshir ...

and

High Legh High Legh is a village, civil parishes in England, civil and ecclesiastical parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is north west of Knutsford, east of Warrington and south west of M ...

. After meeting the M6 at junction 9, the motorway passes south of

Appleton Thorn Appleton Thorn is a village in the borough of Warrington in Cheshire, England. Appleton appeared in the Domesday survey as ''Epeltune'', meaning "the tun where the apples grew". Bawming the Thorn Each June, the village hosts the ceremony of " ...

and Stretton before reaching the outskirts of

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...

at junction 11, near to where it also crosses over the

Bridgewater Canal The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, Greater Manchester, Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester. It was ...

and the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

. On the other side of the town lies junction 12, whose northern roundabout morphed into a signalised hamburger junction when the

Mersey Gateway bridge The Mersey Gateway Bridge is a toll bridge between Runcorn and Widnes in Cheshire, England, which spans the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal. The crossing, which opened in October 2017, has three traffic lanes in each direction and is ...

was built. The concrete multi-span Weaver Viaduct (crossing both the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

and its navigation course) immediately follows junction 12 and offers views of the town of

Frodsham Frodsham is a market town, civil parish, and electoral ward in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Its population was 8,982 in 2001, increasing to 9,077 at the 2011 Census. It is s ...

and its railway viaduct, along with the

INEOS INEOS Group Limited is a British multinational chemicals company headquartered and registered in London. , it is the fourth largest chemical company in the world. Ineos is organised into about 20 standalone business units, each with its own ...

chemical plant and Rocksavage Power Station on the opposite side. Between junctions 12 and 14, it runs parallel to the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part ...

Manchester Ship Canal The Manchester Ship Canal is a inland waterway in the North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the Mersey Estuary at Eastham, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, it generally follows the original routes of the river ...

, a 400kV

overhead power line An overhead power line is a structure used in electric power transmission and distribution to transmit electrical energy across large distances. It consists of one or more uninsulated electrical cables (commonly multiples of three for three-p ...

and the Chester-Warrington railway. After meeting the

M53 motorway The M53 is an motorway in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and Cheshire on the Wirral Peninsula in England. It is also referred to as the Mid Wirral Motorway. It runs between the Kingsway Tunnel, at Wallasey in the north, and the A55 at ...

, the road finally returns to two lanes, it proceeds between

to the south and

Ellesmere Port Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, south of Birkenhead, southwest of Runcorn and south of ...

to its termination at Dunkirk, Cheshire, where it becomes the A494. Traffic destined for

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

can use either the M53 or the A494 to reach the A55. The motorway is fully lit between the M60 and junction 6 (including all of its spurs) along with the junctions with both the M6 and M53. There are two

motorway service area Motorway service areas in the United Kingdom and Ireland, also known as services or service stations, are rest areas where drivers can leave a motorway to refuel/recharge, rest, eat and drink, shop or stay in an on-site overnight hotel. The vas ...

s on the M56:

(operated by

Roadchef Roadchef is a company which operates 21 motorway service areas in the United Kingdom. It is the third-largest motorway service area operator in the country, behind Moto and Welcome Break and followed by Extra. History Roadchef was founded in J ...

) and Lymm (operated by Moto, also accessible from the M6).

History

The first proposal for a motorway across north

was mooted in 1947 in a report commissioned by

Cheshire County Council Cheshire County Council was the county council of Cheshire. Founded on 1 April 1889, it was officially dissolved on 31 March 2009, when it and its districts were superseded by two unitary authorities; Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire Eas ...

, with a line for the route of the motorway being agreed in 1958 between the council and the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation. The first section, announced in November 1963 by the transport minister

Ernest Marples Alfred Ernest Marples, Baron Marples, (9 December 1907 – 6 July 1978) was a British Conservative politician who served as Postmaster General (1957–1959) and Minister of Transport (1959–1964). As Postmaster General, he oversaw the introdu ...

, was a southwards extension of the

Princess Parkway Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

from

to the A56 and

at Bowdon which entered the '' Trunk Road Programme'' for 1967/1968. Construction began in 1968, and the motorway opened in stages between 1971 and 1981: *Junctions 11 to 14: Opened in 1971. *Junctions 3a to 7: Opened in 1972. *Junctions 7 to 9: Opened in 1974. *Junctions 1 to 3 and 9 to 11: Opened in 1975. *Junctions 14 to 16: Opened in 1981. This contains the only section of the motorway paved with concrete, between junctions 15 and 16. Where it crosses the floodplain of the

River Gowy The River Gowy is a river in Cheshire, England, a tributary of the River Mersey. It rises in western Cheshire in the hills near Peckforton Castle, very close to the source of the River Weaver. While the Weaver flows south initially, the Gowy f ...

, the carriageway sits on an embankment made of sandstone from a special-purpose quarry, which was constructed to replace existing peat deposits. The junction with the M53 at

Stoak Stoak is a small village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester; and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Within the parish, to the west of the village is the intersection of the M53 motorway, M53 and M56 m ...

was also included in the construction contracts. Proposals existed for an extension into North Wales across the proposed Dee Barrage, but as of the 2020s these have never materialised. The carriageway between junctions 4 and 6 was widened from the original dual 3 lane configuration to dual 4 lanes during the 1990s as part of a nationwide motorway widening programme first proposed in the 1989 ''Roads to Prosperity''

white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...

. Junction 5 became a lane drop/gain in both directions whereas junction 4 was reconfigured from a two-bridge roundabout to a signalised half-diamond with a single bridge. Prior to 2008, the western end of the motorway terminated at a roundabout on the A5117. Work began in 2006 to grade-separate this junction (and others) to allow free-flowing traffic between the motorway and the A550 at

Deeside Deeside ( cy, Glannau Dyfrdwy) is the name given to a predominantly industrial conurbation of towns and villages in Flintshire and Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the ...

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

, meaning that the mainline motorway no longer connects to the roundabout (it meets the extended A494 head-on 235 metres east), with the former eastbound carriageway retained as an on-slip.

Junctions

{, class="plainrowheaders wikitable" , - !scope=col, Ceremonial
county !scope=col, Location !scope=col, mi !scope=col, km !scope=col, Junction !scope=col, Destinations !scope=col, Notes , - , rowspan="7" ,

, rowspan="5" ,

, 0 , 0 , bgcolor="ffdddd" , 1 , bgcolor="ffdddd" , –

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

–

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. ...

Didsbury Didsbury is a suburban area of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 26,788. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there are ...

, bgcolor="ffdddd" , Exits to M60 Eastbound and A34 Northbound only
Entrance from M60 Westbound and A34 southbound only , - , 1.2 , 1.9 , bgcolor="ffdddd" , 2 , bgcolor="ffdddd" , –

, Cheadle,

Wilmslow Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England, south of Manchester city centre. The population was 24,497 at the 2011 Census. History Toponymy Wilmslow derives its name from Old ...

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

Baguley Baguley ( ) is an electoral ward of the city of Manchester in Wythenshawe, England. The population at the 2011 census was 14,794. Baguley is derived from the Old English words Bagca, badger, and Leah, clearing or meadow. Historically in Cheshi ...

, bgcolor="ffdddd" , No Eastbound exit or Westbound entrance , - , 1.9 , 3.1 , bgcolor="ffdddd" , 3 , bgcolor="ffdddd" , –

, bgcolor="ffdddd" , No Northbound entrance or Southbound exit
Small spur going to junction 3a , - , colspan="2" , — , 3a , –

, Cheadle
–

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 ...

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

, , - , 2.8 , 4.5 , bgcolor="ffdddd" , 4 , bgcolor="ffdddd" ,

Sharston Sharston is an area of Wythenshawe, south Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 16,754. History Built on former farming land (as was most of Wythenshawe when the estate was first being built in the 1920s), the area was i ...

Newall Green Newall Green is an area in the Wythenshawe district of Manchester, England. It is on the west side of the M56 motorway, approximately 1 mile from Wythenshawe Town Centre. Newall Green has two secondary schools, St Paul's Catholic High School and ...

, bgcolor="ffdddd" , No Southbound entrance or Northbound exit , - , rowspan="2" ,

Hale Barns Hale Barns is a village near Altrincham in Greater Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre, 2 miles west of Manchester Airport and close to the River Bollin. At the 2011 census, the village had a population of 9,736. Medieval ...

, 3.4 , 5.4 , 5 , –

, , - , 4.3 , 6.9 , 6 , –

Macclesfield Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...

, , - , rowspan="8" ,

, Bowdon , 7.9 , 12.8 , 7 , –

Lymm Lymm is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England, which incorporates the hamlets of Booths Hill, Broomedge, Church Green, Deansgreen, Heatley, Heatley Heath, Little Heatley, Oughtrington, Reddish, Rushgreen and ...

–

Northwich {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

, –

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, , - , rowspan="2" ,

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 ...

, 13.2 , 21.2 , 9 , –

, Preston,

–

, Appleton,

Knutsford Knutsford () is a market town in the borough of Cheshire East, in Cheshire, England. Knutsford is south-west of Manchester, north-west of Macclesfield and 12.5 miles (20 km) south-east of Warrington. The population at the 2011 Census wa ...

, , - , 16.3 , 26.2 , 10 , – Whitchurch,

–

, , - , rowspan="2" ,

, 19.3 , 31.1 , 11 , –

, , - , 22.3 , 35.8 , 12 , –

, , - , rowspan="3" ,

, 27.4 , 44.2 , 14 , –

Helsby Helsby is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Overlooking the Mersey estuary, it is approximately north east of Chester and south wes ...

, Stanlow , , - , 30.6 , 49.3 , bgcolor="ffdddd" , 15 , bgcolor="ffdddd" , –

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

, bgcolor="ffdddd" , No Eastbound exits or Westbound entrances , - , 34.0 , 54.8 , 16 , – Queensferry –

–

, ;Coordinate list

Junction 7 slip closures

At junction 7 in July 2009, the

slip road In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, using ...

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

; traffic for the nearby

Tatton Park Flower Show RHS Flower Show Tatton Park held at Tatton Park, near Knutsford, Cheshire, first began in 1999 by the Royal Horticultural Society. The show houses the RHS National Flower Bed Competition, Young Designer of the Year Award and a wide range of ins ...

, and the resulting closure to through traffic of the minor road along the southwest edge of

Tatton Park Tatton Park is an historic estate in Cheshire, England, north of the town of Knutsford. It contains a mansion, Tatton Hall, a medieval manor house, Tatton Old Hall, Tatton Park Gardens, a farm and a deer park of . It is a popular visitor attr ...

from

Ashley, Cheshire Ashley is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 261. The village is close to the border with Greater Manchester, just to the south of the M56 motorway and Manchester Airport. Neighbouring ...

Mere, Cheshire Mere is a civil parish and linear village along the old course of the A556 road in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, North West England, about south-west of Altrincham. Bucklow Hill is at its northea ...

(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.

Thorley Lane bridge replacement

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 Wythenshawe and along Styal Road and Kingsway, starting on Thursday 26 March because of work putting cones on the carriageway.

Traffic counts

{, class="wikitable sortable" , - ! Section ! Capacity ! colspan=2 ,

AADT Annual average daily traffic, abbreviated AADT, is a measure used primarily in transportation planning, transportation engineering and retail location selection. Traditionally, it is the total volume of vehicle traffic of a highway or road for a y ...

(2019) ! Count point data , - , J1-J2 , rowspan=2 , D2 , 96,643 ,
604673773
, - , J2-J3 , 72,019 ,
36045
, - , J3-J3A
(Princess Parkway Spur) , D3 , 102,674 ,
99833
, - , J3-J4 , rowspan=2 , D4 , 174,693 ,
26047
, - , J4-J5 , 150,675 ,
6047
, - , Airport Spur , D2 , 67,863 ,
89289
, - , J5-J6 , D4 , 138,257 ,
16044
, - , J6-J7 , rowspan=8 , D3 , 118,528 ,
46044
, - , J7-J8 , 82,528 ,
8025
, - , J8-J9 , 87,582 ,
6048
, - , J9-J10 , 117,996 ,
5604773275
, - , J10-J11 , 107,049 ,
1604573448
, - , J11-J12 , 100,488 ,
46045
, - , J12-J14 , 113,408 ,
2604973282
, - , J14-J15 , 120,523 ,
7831
, - , J15-J16 , D2 , 44,042 ,
37919

Upgrades

Smart motorway

The government announced in August 2015 that the motorway between junctions 6 and 8 would be upgraded to a

smart motorway A smart motorway (formerly managed motorway and active traffic management), also known in Scotland as an intelligent transport system, is a section of motorway in the United Kingdom (primarily in England) that employs active traffic managemen ...

as part of its

Northern Powerhouse The Northern Powerhouse is a proposal to boost economic growth in the North of England by the 2010–15 coalition government and 2015–2016 Conservative government in the United Kingdom, particularly in the "Core Cities" of Hull, Manchester ...

strategy; work began in 2020 with completion anticipated by the end of 2021. The project will with the exception of the slip roads at the airport junction give the motorway four running lanes on each carriageway between junctions 3 and 7, a distance of seven miles. The

Minister of State for Transport The Minister of State for Transport is a mid-level ministerial position in the Department for Transport of the Government of the United Kingdom who deputises for the Secretary of State for Transport. There is also a list of Parliamentary Under-S ...

however ruled out similar work being undertaken between junctions 12 and 14 before 2020, despite pressure from MPs whose constituencies lie near the motorway.

Junction 11a

There was also to be a new junction 11a at

between the existing Junctions 11 and 12 to relieve heavy congestion on this stretch and serve the new

Mersey Gateway The Mersey Gateway Bridge is a toll bridge between Runcorn and Widnes in Cheshire, England, which spans the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal. The crossing, which opened in October 2017, has three traffic lanes in each direction and is ...

bridge. However, this project was cancelled by

Highways England 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 ...

in Spring 2020 as it didn't represent value for money.

M56 corridor

"The M56 corridor" is a term used by

estate agent An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting, or management of properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent. Estate agents are mainly engaged i ...

s and social geographers to describe what is considered to be a relatively affluent area of

, within easy reach of the M56. The area includes the cities of

and

, and commuter towns and villages in rural Cheshire. It also includes

and

where the chemical and

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

industries are prominent.

References

External links

CBRD Motorway Database - M56
{{DEFAULTSORT:5-0056m Motorways in England Roads in Cheshire Roads in Greater Manchester

Route

History

Junctions

Junction 7 slip closures

Thorley Lane bridge replacement

Traffic counts

Upgrades

Smart motorway

Junction 11a

M56 corridor

See also

References

External links