M6 - M58
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Ordnance Survey map - Alternative aerial view
Where is it?
M6 junction 26, just west of Wigan. The junction allows movement between north-south traffic on the M6, traffic to and from Liverpool on the M58 and Wigan on the A577.
What's wrong with it?
The main problem is that it's so underpowered to say this is the terminus of a motorway, and a radial motorway from a major city at that. A large amount of traffic is heading north from Liverpool (or vice versa) and these movements take long cumbersome routes, going round roundabouts and 180-degree loops. In addition, the nature of the roundabouts means the three-lane M58 has to drop to two lanes shortly before the roundabout. Finally, there is a single carriageway (but still motorway class) spur road to the A577 which leaves the eastern roundabout - as a motorway it should be a dual carriageway!
Why is it wrong?
This wasn't meant to be the terminus of the M58. The 'flared' carriageways show it was meant to continue east, the original plan taking it round the south of Wigan to meet the M61. It is hard to see how this interchange would have allowed this - presumably the M58 would have gone over the top on a third level and had east-facing sliproads to the eastern roundabout. Had this happened, the junction wouldn't have been so bad and additional junctions for Wigan from the M58 would have been provided further east. Presumably the link to the A577 was a temporary measure to ensure Wigan to Liverpool traffic could use the M58 until this happened. The odd looped sliproads are obviously forced by the built-up land to the north.
What would be better?
If the link to the A577 wasn't there it would be quite simple to convert this to a (small) trumpet interchange - a small east-to-north sliproad could be added north of the M58, the roundabouts removed entirely and the eastern one replaced with straight-through links to form the loop. Luckily traffic levels here aren't so high that any 'fix' is really required.
Right to Reply
Email me with your comments.
Andy Hill spies a problem:
You say it doesn't have enough traffic to warrant any changes? Every evening now, the queue on the A577 slip road backs up so far as to clog the eastern roundabout!
[Surely that's a problem at the top end of the A577 spur, not at this junction itself? -Ed]
Rick is worried:
When the lights are on at the end of the M58, to go north from a standing start at the lights there's two lines of traffic playing chicken as to who gets on the M6 first.
Someone WILL get hurt.
Rob has his own ideas: (Apr 08)
Well, what a mess. I've been using it daily for years and the risks are huge. The M6 South gets huge queues in the morning because of the blockages back beyond Jct 27 and after complaints and suggestions, the temporary lights were installed as a cheaper fix than my proposal. All this has done is to shorten, but not remove, the queue leaving the same panic when approaching it. As an interesting feature is that this has now created a queue on the M58 eastern end which rarely existed.
My suggestion: a single lane bridge from M58 East to the M6 North. Problems with the existing land use, I agree, but this would remove traffic turning right which has priority over traffic coming under the bridge from M6 south or A577 and therefore a similar knock on effect. Views from coming under the bridge to the western roundabout are limited and people already play chicken by darting across accelerating traffic heading for the M6 north when the lights are off.
It was rejected on cost, but I have seen too many near misses and bumps to remember.
Dan Harvey is stuck in a queue: (Apr 08)
I haven't been using this junction for very long and I don't know what it was like before the part time signals were introduced, but I do know that if you're heading for the M6 from the M58 at the wrong time (the rush hours) there tends to be around a mile tailback because of people having to stop on the first roundabout, and the lights coming off at the A577 are too close to the second roundabout causing more tailbacks for both those exiting the M6 south and those coming under the bridge, which then compounds the problems at the first roundabout.
David Unwin thinks it's just part of the bigger problem: (Apr 08)
The M58 at this junction was originally built as a two lane dual carriageway by-pass, A506, to replace the A577 through Upholland and provide a direct link to Skelmersdale New Town from the M6 motorway. The junction as built was adequate for that purpose, plus it fitted through an existing bridge under the M6.
The by-pass was later incorporated into the new M58 to Liverpool (well, to Switch Island at Magull actually, it was never finished), widened to three lanes each way and provided with hard shoulders. The junction layout however remained unchanged, a quart into a pint pot affair. Had the proposed extension of the M58 to join the M61 at Chequerbent ever been built the layout may have been modified but for now I think that we are stuck with it and the peak time queues it causes back up the M6. Part of the problem with the build-up on the A577 link road is that, apart from the A49 spur from the M6 northbound at Bryn, there are no decent connections from the M6 to Wigan and its industry. The A511 from the north at Standish was never built. It is very frustrating, when coming from the north, to be able to see the huge Heinz factory at Kitt Green, for instance, but knowing that one has to use a substandard link road, an A road through a village, a residental road and a country lane in order to reach it.
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