New £50m bridge planned for one of busiest motorway junctions in North West

New bridge at Knutsford

Images have been published of a planned motorway flyover designed to ease congestion at one of the busiest junctions in the North West.

Highways England have published plans for the new £50m bridge which would be built on junction 19 of the M6 at Knutsford.

The bridge would connect the motorway with the new A556 by-pass and is part of major improvements planned for one of the busiest stretches of motorway in the country.

The M6 in Cheshire is currently being up-graded and the roadworks stretch from Knutsford services to Crewe.

The work to upgrade the stretch of the M6 to a smart motorway is costing £279m and should be completed at the end of next year.

The new flyover is designed to ease congestion on the slip roads at the junction which regularly become clogged with traffic at peak periods.

If the work is given final approval by the Transport Secretary then work on the scheme would start in March 2020.

The plans are subject to final approval from the Transport Secretary, but work could start in March 2020. The work will take around 18 months to complete.

The government announced plans for the scheme in December 2014 and Highways England unveiled its preferred route in June.

A spokesperson said: “The new link roads across the middle of the roundabout will take a lot of traffic away from other parts of the roundabout, reducing congestion for everyone.

“The improvements will involve significant construction in the middle of the roundabout over the existing M6 motorway carriageways.

“This will provide dedicated link roads between the northbound M6 and the new northbound A556 Knutsford to Bowdon dual carriageway as well as the southbound M6 onto the southbound, local, A556 road towards Northwich.”

Two public events will be held in May to display the plans before a formal public consultation is launched.

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