If you've ever used the Kingsway Interchange you'll know just how confusing it can be. Several junctions for some of Greater Manchester's busiest roads and motorways are all crammed next to each other in a bizarre jumble of slip roads.
For drivers unfamiliar with the convoluted layout between the M60, M56, Princess Parkway and A34 it can be a real headscratcher. But now motorway expert Jon Jefferson has explained how the 'windy mess' came about.
READ MORE: Join the FREE Manchester Evening News WhatsApp community
Jon runs the YouTube channel Auto Shenanigans, which examines motoring topics such as fuel prices. But he is perhaps best-known for his Secrets of the Motorway series.
In those episodes he visits various motorways across the country, looking at their history, interesting anecdotes and bizarre features. And last month Jon covered the M56, which joins Cheshire and Greater Manchester, with a particular focus on the thorny issue of the Kingsway Interchange near Cheadle, Didsbury and Sharston.
"What's going on? This doesn't make sense," Jon joked when looking at how traffic joins the M56. It turns out the complex layout is a result of abandoned plans to join the M56 up with the A57(M) to the north.
Jon explained: "Junctions 2, 3 and 3a are all crammed in next to each other at a point where the M56 seems to have an additional spur.
"But wait, if we're travelling westbound, we seem to join the main carriageway of the M56 at junction 3. What's going on? This doesn't make any sense.
"It turns out the entire section of the M56 from junctions 1 to 3 is technically a motorway spur. And indeed it's called the Sharston Spur, but why do we have it in the first place?
"Well we can see at junction 3 that the carriageway continues north with the M56 then ending at junction 3a where the A5103 takes over. Of course the original idea was for the motorway to continue north and join up with the A57(M) but that part of the motorway was never built.
"Along the route of the A5103 we can see where space was left for a motorway to be built. And it also explains why the interchange with the M60 is so over-engineered. At one point it was going to be a motorway to motorway interchange.
"Anyway, none of that happened so the first section of the M56 is technically a spur road and we join the main carriageway at junction 3. I think the small section of the M56 that runs up to junction 3a is more of a formality.
"The roundabout and slip roads need to be under regulations to prevent any non-motorway traffic from finding its way onto the M56, but all of this adds up to a bit of an odd junction layout."
For more of today's top stories, click here.
READ NEXT:
"WTF is that?": YouTuber has 'sensible' explanation on why infamous M60 junction got its design
M56 middle lane hogging driver pursued by police for nearly 10 MILES
Warning for drivers ahead of massive M60 motorway resurfacing lasting two months
Andy Burnham laughs off claim he is 'waffling' during radio phone-in rant against huge speeding fine
