Halton tops the chart for fastest A-roads in county
FIVE Halton highways are among the fastest A-roads in Cheshire according to data from the Department For Transport.
The borough’s contribution amounts to a quarter of the county’s 20 zippiest routes despite only covering a small part of its territory.
Those five fast A-roads are:
The A557, which is a long winding route covering Weston Point Expressway in Runcorn all the way to the northern tip of Watkinson Way in Widnes, where the average speed is 47 miles per hour (mph).
A558 Daresbury Expressway in Runcorn, 42.1mph.
A533 Bridgewater Expressway in Runcorn, 40.7mph.
A56 Chester Road in Runcorn, 35.3mph
A562 Ashley
Widnes, 35.1mph.
The fastest A-road in Cheshire was the A555 near Manchester Airport.
None of Halton’s roads featured among the list of the slowest 20 roads in Cheshire.
Chester ring road, the A5268, came closest to snail pace in the county, with an average speed of 10mph.
Analysis of the DfT data showed that average speeds have increased in Cheshire in the last year.
In Halton in particular, average speeds on local A-roads, at all times, not just morning and evening peaks - rose from 36.6mph in 2018 to 39.9mph in 2019.
In Cheshire East they rose from 28.5mph to 30.1mph, in Warrington from 23.0mph to 23.5mph, and in Cheshire West and Chester from 29.4mph to
Way, 29.8mph.
Everywhere but Warrington has faster speeds than the national average of 25.3mph, across all local A roads in England.
The figures also revealed that Cheshire West And Chester has one of the slowest roads in the country, however – the A5268, where speeds fell from 13mph to 10mph in the last year.
On average, the road typically sees delays of 2.7 minutes for every mile spent on the road.
Nicholas Lyes, RAC head of roads policy, said: “Before the coronavirus pandemic, congestion was a serious problem in many towns and cities in the UK.
“While the economic impact of drivers being sat in queueing traffic going nowhere is widely recognised, as a country we are now becoming much more aware of the impact poor air quality has on human health.
“Keeping traffic moving as lockdowns are eased should be a priority for national and local government.
“RAC research shows drivers continue to be dependent on their vehicles for many of the trips they need to make so addressing known pinchpoints and taking a balanced approach to deciding on how best to use limited road space is vital to keeping everyone moving. We also hope that the road investment strategy for major A-roads and motorways will address congestion issues on these routes.
“It remains the case there are still so many occasions when drivers have no realistic alternatives to using a car – be it picking or dropping children off at school, doing the weekly grocery shop or visiting friends and family further afield.”