The M58 is a

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 ...

passing through

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wir ...

and

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

, terminating in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

. It is 12 miles (19.3 km) long and provides a link between the M6 motorway and the

Metropolitan Borough of Sefton The Metropolitan Borough of Sefton is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England. It was formed on 1 April 1974, by the amalgamation of the county boroughs of Bootle and Southport, the municipal borough of Crosby, the urban districts of ...

and hence on, via the A5036, to the Mersey docks in Liverpool and Birkenhead.

Route

Apart from the approaches to its terminal roundabouts, the motorway is three lanes throughout. It starts at

Switch Island Switch Island is a major road junction near Aintree in Merseyside, England, in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton. The junction is at the western terminus of both the M57 and M58 motorways, which converge on the A59 trunk road, the north- ...

in Merseyside and passes directly underneath the

Merseyrail Northern Line The Merseyrail Northern line is a cross-city railway running from in south Liverpool then (by way of an underground section through Liverpool's city centre) to termini in the north at ( Merseyside), (Lancashire) and (Merseyside). It and ...

. before striking out across open countryside and into Lancashire south of Maghull and

Bickerstaffe Bickerstaffe is a village and civil parish in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England. According to the 2001 Census the population of the civil parish was 1,196, reducing to 1,180 at the 2011 census, although the population of th ...

. It then curves south Easterly south of Skelmersdale before reaching the M6 at Orrell in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester.

History

Since 1949 an upgrade of the

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington ...

Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England, north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston. Ormskirk is known for its gingerbread. Geography and administ ...

route had been proposed to improve traffic flows, yet with the decision in 1961 to develop Skelmersdale as a new town, the proposals were revised to provide a link to the M6 at one end and Liverpool at the other. The first part of the road was opened in March 1968The Motorway Archive – M58
as the ''Skelmersdale Regional Road'' between what is now junctions 4 & 5. It was originally a two lane single carriageway road that was upgraded to 2 lane plus with hard shoulders in 1973. The next stage was to connect this road to the M6 and construction on this part began in 1968 and it was opened to traffic in October 1970 as all purpose dual carriageway. Now junctions 5 to 6, this road was upgraded to dual 3 lanes with a hard shoulder in 1977. These roads were upgraded to motorway status in 1977.The Motorway Archive – M58 Dates
/ref> Construction on

to junction 4 section began in 1978 with the road opening between April and September 1980.

Unfulfilled plans

Junction 2 was not built, and was the end of a proposed motorway to

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

. This was originally given the designation A59(M) as an upgrade to the A59 and later referred to as the M59. However these proposals were dropped in favour of improvements to the existing A59. At Switch Island, the junction has been built to allow an extension of the M57 and the end of M58 has provision for slip roads to the extension to be constructed.

Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. It consists of 84 councillors. Since the 2017 election, the council has been under Conservative control. Prior to the 2009 L ...

had in 1949 also proposed a Wigan to Bolton road. Bridges had been built on the M61 to allow for this eventual continuation. Later plans saw the road downgraded to an

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 ...

; it would have reached the M61 between junctions 5 and 6. These plans have also been dropped and currently Wigan Borough Council has plans for a part dual and part single carriageway route to the A579 near Atherton.

Junctions

File:M58, Junction 3 at Bickerstaffe.jpg, Junction 3 (eastbound exit) near

. File:Roundabout the end of the M58 - geograph.org.uk - 39270.jpg, Approaching the M6 interchange from the M58. Data from

driver location signs Driver location signs are signs placed every along each side of English motorways, and some other major English roads, to provide information that will allow motorists to know their precise location. , roads in England, but not Scotland, Wale ...

are used to provide distance information.Driver Location Signs, Highway Agency Area 10 (map) – Highway Authority, 2009 {, 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="2" ,

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

, 0 , 0 , M57 J7 , – Kirkby,

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form th ...

– Southport,

–

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. Historically part of Lancashire, Bootle's ...

– Southport, Formby , , - , rowspan="2" , — , 2.2 , 3.6 , 1 , – Kirkby, Maghull , , - , rowspan="3" ,

, 6.0 , 9.6 , 3 , – St Helens,

, Southport , , - , rowspan="2" , Skelmersdale , 7.7 , 12.3 , 4 , – Skelmersdale , , - , 9.4 , 15.1 , 5 , – Skelmersdale, Pimbo, Upholland , , - ,

, 11.6 , 18.7 , 6 , –

, The South,

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 ...

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 We ...

–

, ;Coordinate list

References

External links