£192M ROAD CUTS JOURNEY TIMES
JOURNEY TIMES ARE CUT DUE TO LINK ROUTE
A new dual carriageway has opened in Cheshire – and commuters say it is already revolutionising their lives. The new A556, linking the M6 and M56, opened for the first time on Monday morning following a £192m revamp. But it is only a temporary launch. Motorists travelling towards Manchester Airport will be hit by another planned closure this weekend as workmen set about building a barrier to block off the old A556.
A NEW dual carriageway has opened in Cheshire - and commuters say it is already revolutionising their lives.
The new A556, linking the M6 and M56, opened for the first time yesterday morning following a £192m revamp.
But it is only a temporary launch. Motorists travelling towards Manchester Airport will be hit by another planned closure this weekend as workmen set about building a barrier to block off the old A556.
In the meantime, commuters are enjoying a quicker journeys between junction seven of the M56 at Bowdon and junction 19 of the M6 at Knutsford.
Dianne Bourne, who travels from Knustford to Oldham every morning, said the new road was ‘mind-blowing.’
She said: “It’s amazing, life-changing. It’s cut my journey time by more than 10 minutes.
“It’s the fastest I’ve got to work in three years.
“I can’t even figure out how it works. You just seamlessly end up on the old A556 and you can’t work out how you get there.”
During this weekend’s closure, work to seal off the M56 end of the old road with a permanent concrete barrier will be carried out. It means the road will be closed from 9pm on Friday to 5am on Sunday.
Highways England project manager Paul Hampson said traffic was flowing well yesterday.
He said: “The old A556 was heavily congested, journeys were unreliable and there were two junctions at Bucklow and Mere.
“There was conflict between local traffic and motorway traffic, which had to use a local road also used by farmers wanting to take cows across fields.”
Mr Hampson said that conflict has now been addressed.
Meanwhile, work will continue on the old A556, to be renamed the B5569.
Currently, a four-lane carriageway, one lane of the north-bound route will be turned into a car-free road for horses, cyclists and walkers.
The southbound stretch will become a single way in each direction.
Mr Hampson said: “It will completely change the character of the road. All that motorway traffic will be on the new road.”
The entire project, which began in November 2014, is scheduled to finish early in the autumn.
For more information on this weekend’s closures, visit manchestereveningnews.co.uk.