MOTORISTS using the M56 near Warrington are being warned to carefully plan their journeys again this weekend.
The motorway will be closed for a second weekend as National Highways’ 18-month, £27 million A533 bridge replacement project nears completion.
With good progress made on the first weekend of demolition work and the motorway near Runcorn re-opening on time at 6am yesterday (Monday 15 May), National Highways today thanked drivers for their support and patience.
National Highways project manager Sam Whitfield said: “We’d like to thank motorway and local road users for their continued patience and support over the weekend while the M56 and new bridge were closed. Demolishing the old A533 bridge, which is right next to the new one, was always going to be a delicate and complicated operation and the safety of road users is our key concern.
“We’ve been telling people for some time this final phase of the project would need to be done over two weekends – and while there’s never a good time to close a motorway these dates were carefully chosen to avoid disrupting people’s journeys during this month’s bank holidays.
“With the motorway and new bridge closed again this weekend, we’re urging drivers to plan ahead, check for congestion on the diversion routes before setting off and leave a little bit of extra time for journeys – or avoid this section of the motorway altogether if possible.”
The M56 will be closed in both directions between junction 11 and junction 12 from 9pm this Friday (19 May) until 6am on Monday (22 May) as work to demolish the last of the old bridge structures is finished. An animation (see below) was released last week showing the different stages of the demolition programme.
The new bridge opened to traffic for the first time on Monday 17 April, future-proofing a vital connection for residents, commuters and businesses across the motorway.
The new bridge will also close again this weekend – from 7pm on Friday until 6am on Monday. Access to and from the A56 local road will also be closed at its junction with the A533 near the new bridge.
Clearly-signed diversions for both the bridge and motorway closures will be in place with full information available on the dedicated project webpage
Drivers are advised to check traffic conditions before setting out on journeys. Live traffic information is always available at www.trafficengland.com or from National Highways’ 24-7 customer contact centre at 0300 123 5000. Updates will also be posted to @HighwaysNWest – National Highways’ regional Twitter feed.
