A562 Speke Road to Ditton Roundabout offslip to close for four months
Drivers travelling from Liverpool to Widnes will need to use a new diversion that starts next week to avoid an unnecessary two-way trip over the Silver Jubilee Bridge.
The southbound off-slip road from Speke Road to Ditton Roundabout will be closed for approximately four months from Monday 27 April 2015.
The closure will follow the reopening of the Speke Road on slip road, which has now been fully refurbished.
During this closure of the slip road a signed diversion will take traffic heading from Liverpool into Widnes off the A562 at Everite Road to Hale Road and then direct it east along Ditton Road to Ditton Roundabout.
Any drivers not taking the diversion route will have to carry on over the Silver Jubilee Bridge, as there are no more exits leaving the main road after the Ditton Road diversion before the river.
Hugh O’Connor, General Manager of the Merseylink Consortium, said: “The Ditton Roundabout slip road will be closed so please make sure you use the Ditton Road diversion or you will have to cross the Silver Jubilee Bridge and come back again.”
Cllr Rob Polhill, Leader of Halton Borough Council and Chair of the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board, said: “We are working with Merseylink to make sure people are informed about the closure. They have already put extensive signage in place and they will be adding to that to warn drivers that if they want to head into Widnes they need to use the diversion, which means turning off earlier than they normally would do.”
There will also be a secondary diversion in place to assist traffic which has passed the main diversion turn off at Everite Road. This route will signpost traffic across the Silver Jubilee Bridge and on to the Weston Point Expressway southbound.
Traffic on this route will exit the Expressway at the Picow Farm Road junction and rejoin the northbound Weston Point Expressway before travelling back across the bridge to Ditton Roundabout.
Traffic travelling towards Liverpool and Speke Road traffic from Liverpool travelling over the Silver Jubilee Bridge will be unaffected by this closure.
The work is part of a series of roadworks in and around Ditton Junction that will carry on for the next three years.
Completion
When the new Mersey Gateway Bridge opens, the main A562 Speke Road, which leads towards Liverpool, will be redirected to take traffic directly to and from it. There will be no toll barriers or booths so traffic will flow freely across the river.
For more information on ongoing work, please visit: www.merseygateway.co.uk/down-your-street/