M57 motorway

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M57 motorway
Length	14 miles 22.5 km
Direction	Southeast - Northwest
Start	Huyton
Primary destinations	Liverpool
End	Netherton Switch Island
Construction dates	1972 - 1974
Motorways joined	1 - M62 motorway 7 - M58 motorway

Image:037528 1004aa50.jpg

The M57 motorway also known as the Liverpool Outer Ring Road, is a road in England. It is designed as a bypass road for Liverpool. It is 14 miles<ref name="ma">The Motorway Archive - M57 Scheme Page</ref> (22.5km) long. The M57 motorway links various towns east of Liverpool as well as the M62 and M58 motorways.

1 Route
2 History
3 Future plans
4 Junctions
5 Trivia
6 See Also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Route

Starting at the Tarbock Interchange, in Cronton, at the end of the A5300, the motorway heads north to the east of Huyton and west of Prescot and crosses the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It then runs across the north east of Huyton's suburbs before running west of Knowsley. After meeting the A580 at a split junction (numbered 4 & 5), it continues north west between Fazakerly and Kirkby, passes under the Merseyrail Northern Line Kirkby branch and then the Merseyrail Northern Line Ormskirk branch before ending on Switch Island near Melling. The motorway provides one of the main access routes to the world famous Aintree Racecourse.

[edit] History

The M57 was planned to be a complete bypass of Liverpool, meeting each of the main roads out of the city<ref>Pathetic Motorways - M57</ref>. As is normal in the United Kingdom, the M57 was to be built in stages. The first two opened were<ref>The Motorway Archive - M57 Dates Page</ref>:

Junctions 1 to 4 were opened in 1974 as phase 2.
Junctions 4 to 7 were opened in 1972 as phase 1.

Phase 1 was proceeded with more rapidly as there had been industrial growth in the area, and it was considered important to improve traffic connections as soon as possible<ref name="ma" />. The original plans for the route anticipated an extension south to the A562<ref name="ma" />.

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<ref>The Motorway Archive - M58</ref>. Contemporary maps also show a proposed southern extension that has been built as the A5300<ref>Pathetic Motorways - M57 Map</ref>. There are no known plans to complete the northern extension.

[edit] Future plans

The Highways Agency are currently planning improvements to the M57's junction with the M62 that would provide free-flow links between the M57 and the M62 east of the junction<ref>Highways Agency Scheme Page</ref>. Subject to approval from the Secretary of State for Transport and funding being available, construction could start in summer 2007, with completion about two years later.

[edit] Junctions

M53 Motorway
Northbound	Junction	Southbound
Huyton, Liverpool (Central) Manchester, Warrington, Widnes M62	J1	Road continues as A5300 to Runcorn & Liverpool Airport
Start of Motorway	J1	Huyton, Liverpool (Central) Manchester, Warrington, Widnes M62
Prescot, St. Helens A57	J2	Prescot A57
No exit	J3	Huyton A526
St. Helens, Bootle A580	J4	Knowsley, Industrial Estates A580
No exit	J5	St. Helens A580
Kirkby, Fazakerley A506	J6	Kirkby, Fazakerley A506
Liverpool (Central) Southport, Ormskirk A59 Docks, Bootle A5036 Skelmersdale, Wigan, Preston M58	J7 Switch Island	Start of motorway

[edit] Trivia

The M57 is one of the few motorways in England that does not connect directly to any other motorways - both the M62 and M58 are accessible only via a very short section of all-purpose road.

[edit] See Also

List of motorways in the United Kingdom

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Image:UK motorway symbol.svg	Motorways in the United Kingdom	Image:UK motorway symbol.svg
Great Britain: M1 • M2 • M3 • M4 • M5 • M6 • M6 Toll • M8 • M9 • M10 • M11 • M18 • M20 • M23 • M25 • M26 • M27 • M32 • M40 • M42 • M45 • M48 • M49 • M50 • M53 • M54 • M55 • M56 • M57 • M58 • M60 • M61 • M62 • M65 • M66 • M67 • M69 • M73 • M74 • M77 • M80 • M90 • M180 • M181 • M271 • M275 • M602 • M606 • M621 • M876 • M898
A1(M) • A3(M) • A38(M) • A48(M) • A57(M) • A58(M) A64(M) • A66(M) • A74(M) • A167(M) • A194(M) • A308(M) • A329(M) • A404(M) • A601(M) • A627(M) • A823(M)

	Northern Ireland: M1 • M2 • M3 • M5 • M12 • M22 • A8(M)	edit

Past: M41 • M63 • A18(M) • A40(M) • A41(M) • A102(M) • A6144(M) Unbuilt: M12 • M15 • M64 Future: M4 Toll