Misplaced Pages

A56
Route information
Maintained by List Bury Metropolitan Borough Council Cheshire East Council Cheshire West and Chester Council Halton Borough Council National Highways Lancashire County Council Manchester City Council North Yorkshire Council Salford City Council Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council Warrington Borough Council
Length	71.46 mi (115.00 km)
Major junctions
West end	A5268 Chester
Major intersections	A41 M53 M56 A50 M60 A57(M) A58 M66 M65
East end	A59 Broughton
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Primary destinations	Runcorn Warrington Altrincham Manchester Bury Burnley
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones
← A55 → A57

The A56 is a road in England which extends between the city of Chester in Cheshire and the village of Broughton in North Yorkshire. The road contains a mixture of single and dual carriageway sections, and traverses environments as diverse as the dense urban sprawl of inner city Manchester and the lightly populated region of rural east Lancashire. The road includes a short section of trunk road between the end of the M66 motorway near Ramsbottom and the M65 motorway west of Burnley.

Route description

The road begins as Frodsham Street in the centre of Chester at its junction with Foregate Street A51 and heads north-eastwards out of the city. Just outside the city, the A56 crosses Junction 12 of the M53 motorway, continuing in a north easterly direction. The road passes through the towns and villages of Mickle Trafford, Dunham on the Hill, Helsby and Frodsham whilst roughly paralleling the course of the south side of the M56 motorway. After leaving Frodsham, the A56 crosses the M56 at Junction 11 and passes the towns of Runcorn and Warrington, taking up a more easterly direction to again parallel the course of the north side of the motorway.

The road crosses the M6 motorway halfway between Junctions 20 and 21, before passing south of Lymm on its way to its junction with the A556 road at Bowdon. At Bowdon the A56 turns sharply northwards, passing Altrincham and Sale, crossing the M60 Manchester Outer Ring Road at Junction 7 into Stretford.

The A56 takes the name of Chester Road and continues north-eastwards through Stretford and Hulme into Manchester city centre, where it takes on the name Deansgate, one of Manchester's main shopping streets and thoroughfares. At the end of Deansgate, the A56 takes on the name of Victoria Street as it passes Manchester Victoria railway station. Since 2012, most of Victoria Street has been pedestrianised with planters, but the road markings still remain underneath.

Turning sharply to the north-west, the A56 leaves Manchester and goes through the Broughton district of Salford on its way to Prestwich, where it is called Bury New Road, where it again crosses the M60 Manchester Outer Ring Road at Junction 17. Heading due north the road passes Whitefield and cuts through Bury before crossing the M66 motorway at Junction 1. The road follows the M66 up to its terminus near Edenfield.

The A56 becomes dual carriageway, and traffic from the M66 can continue onto this trunk road section only. Traffic from the A680 and the A676 can also join the A56. Again heading roughly due northwards the A56 bypasses Haslingden and Accrington before joining the M65 motorway at Junction 8, slightly to the west of Burnley.

After joining the M65, the A56 disappears from the maps, only to reappear approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) to the north east close to M65 Junction 13 at a junction with the A682 in central Nelson.

Taking an easterly direction, the A56 goes through Colne before turning sharply to the north. Now cutting through the more rural parts of east Lancashire the road passes Foulridge and Earby, finally reaching its termination point where it merges with the A59 road to the west of Broughton in North Yorkshire.

History

Prior to the construction of the M65, M66 and connecting roads, the route continued through Edenfield and into Rawtenstall. The route then passed through the centre of Burnley and on to Nelson, this section is now marked as an extension of the A682.

See also

• M56 motorway
• Chester to Manchester Line

References

1. Sheet 95 – Blackburn and Burnley (Map). 1 inch:mile. 7th series. Ordnance Survey. 1961.

External links

• Road to Nowhere: A56

v t e Roads in Zone 5 of the Great Britain road numbering scheme
	A5 A50 A51 A52 A53 A54 A55 A56 A57 A58 A59
	A500 A501 A505 A507 A508 A509 A511 A512 A514 A515 A516 A518 A519 A523 A525 A527 A528 A529 A530 A531 A533 A535 A536 A537 A538 A540 A541 A555 A556 A562 A563 A565 A570 A572 A574 A580 A583 A584 A585 A586 A587 A588 A590 A591 A592 A593 A594 Leicester Cumbria A595 A596
	A5004 A5012 A5025 A5036 A5038 A5058 A5100 A5103 A5109 A5112 A5114 A5117 A5120 A5124 A5127 A5130 A5135 A5147 A5150 A5183 A5199 A5268 A5300 A5758
	B5289 B5300 B5302 B5470
List of A roads in Zone 5 List of B roads in Zone 5

• Roads in England
• Roads in Cheshire
• Roads in Yorkshire
• Roads in Greater Manchester
• Roads in Lancashire
• Transport in Manchester
• Transport in North Yorkshire