A556 road

The A556 is a road in England which extends from the village of Delamere in Cheshire to the village of Bowdon in Greater Manchester. The road contains a mixture of single and dual carriageway sections and forms a large part of the route between Manchester and Chester. The part of the route between the M6 motorway junction 19 and the M56 motorway junction 7 is a major route into Manchester and has been considered for upgrade to Motorway status and was to be known as the A556(M).

The road is frequently very congested, carrying approximately 50,000 vehicles per day, and has a high accident record; between 1998 and 2005, there were around 200 accidents, resulting in 5 fatalities and 39 people being seriously injured.

Route description

The route begins in the South of Manchester at junction 7 of the M56. It then runs in a Southwesterly direction towards Chester, finishing near Delamere.

At its northern limit, the road ends at a large roundabout with the A56. The A56 continues towards central Manchester via Altrincham. The A556 provides a spur to the M56 at Junction 7. The A556 runs south west as a dual carriageway before changing to a single carriageway with four lanes (that is no physical separation between the traffic flows) and leads to traffic lights at the junction with the A5034 at Bucklow Hill. The route then crosses the A50 at Mere near the Mere Golf and Country Club before continuing to a roundabout at Junction 19 of the M6.