There will be a full weekend closure of the M56 between junctions 5 and 7 this week for final upgrade work. The motorway will be shut between 9pm on Friday September 9 and 6am on Monday September 12.
National Highways are installing stop vehicle detection technology and undertaking surfacing work. To ‘reduce the impact on customers’, they're lifting the closure on Sunday morning to accommodate fans travelling to Manchester United’s home game on Sunday afternoon.
Following this, the road will be open to traffic at 60 mph with extra lanes running both east and westbound, in place of the old hard shoulders.
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The eastbound M56 will be closed from Junction 9 at Lymm interchange with the M6 to Junction 5 for Manchester Airport. The westbound carriageway will be closed from Junction 5 to Junction 8 at Bowdon.
Clearly-signed diversions will be in place and access to the airport is to be continued via the westbound M56 at junction 5. During the weekend closure, access to junction 5 westbound on the M56 will be continued, but there are also diversions in place.
The National Highways website said: “We’re asking drivers to follow the signed M56 diversion routes during these closures. Please do not use satnav when following a diversion.
“We’ve looked to reduce the disruption by carrying out our work on these dates, ahead of the October school holidays, but delays are expected. Before travelling plan ahead and allow extra time to complete your journey.”
A westbound diversion will include travelling on the M60, M62 and M6 while drivers who planned on using the M56 eastbound, either heading towards Manchester city centre or the airport, will use the M6, M62 and M60.
Furthermore, for people travelling to the airport overnight from the West Midlands, Cheshire and North Wales, two diversions will be in place one from junction 9 of the M56 at Lymm and the other, a local diversion from junction 7 at Altrincham.
The work is subject to weather conditions.
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