M58 - A577
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Ordnance Survey map - Alternative aerial view
Where is it?
M58 junction 5, the main junction for the new town of Skelmersdale from Liverpool's northern radial motorway, the M58.
It was nominated by Paul Berry.
What's wrong with it?
Take a look. It's what you'd get if you took all the junction elements you liked best and then dropped them randomly next to each other until you had a free-flow junction that was as difficult to use as humanely possible. There's a pair of loop ramps that get M58 traffic to and from the A577 in the wrong direction, there's the half-roundabout thing south of the M58, and there's the sliproad that's an unclassified road for most of its length. There's the fact that the majority of movements involve doing a large lazy circuit of the round bit at the bottom. I'd like to write more but every time I look at the diagram I just start to weep uncontrollably.
Why is it wrong?
Who knows. The best excuse I've heard so far was that the M58 here was originally an A-road, built with Skelmersdale and then absorbed into the M58 route. As far as I'm concerned this goes no distance at all to explain why, to get from eastbound to northbound, I have to complete a figure of 8, or why there's some very unnecessary conflict created between the loops on the M58. It seems that, like the rest of Skelmersdale's road network, this is an experiment that went wrong.
What would be better?
Well, let me see. I think the first thing on the list has to be levelling the entire thing and starting again. There's so little traffic on any of the roads concerned that you might as well install a mini-roundabout with peak time traffic lights and have done with it: at least it would provide a direct left-turn. Ideally though, a simple roundabout interchange would be installed, which is really what should have been here right from the start.
Right to Reply
Email me with your comments.
Bill Foote provides the nearest thing to a defence this junction will ever have:
You say the whole Skem road system appears to have been an experiment that failed - surely you mean that Skem itself was an experiment that failed. It is by far the worst "New Town" of them all!
Stuart Smith finds more incriminating evidence:
You say you weep when you see this junction. I use it daily so have no tears left!
I see innumerable accidents and near misses from one 'peculiarity' you don't mention. Traffic joining M58 eastbound (from the loop ramps as you call them) has to suddenly give way [there really is a Give Way sign and markings!], with only about 20 yards of slip road, to traffic exiting the M58 at motorway speeds. They both have to use the same bit of tarmac as traffic joining joins 100yds before traffic leaving leaves. And if that sounds confusing, I suggest you try driving it ... or actually not!
Catherine Henders hasn't a good word to say:
I also feel junction 5 Pimbo/Skem is bad junction, the slip road off meets the slip road onto motorway, twice I have had to slam on because cars coming onto motorway have not realised that this it is a slip road. I was forced back onto the inside lane of motorway and luckily there was no cars approaching, I don't know whether there has been any accidents at this junction but feel they need to do alterations to this junction before someone is killed.
Paul Martin writes:
It's even worse!
You'll notice that both of the sliproads south of the M58 merge with local roads. In fact, the eastern industrial estate (Prescott Road is its perimiter) has no other roads giving it access.
Nathan has bad memories of this junction:
It has to be a criminal bit of bad planning. I used to work at Skelmersdale and a regular occurrence were 44 ton trucks going the wrong way around a one-way industrial estate! I once also saw a car going the wrong way - the driver, from nearby Wigan, had come to give us our fork lift truck training! A very badly designed bit of road.
