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Factfile - Images - Timeline - Exit List

Location map The Liverpool Outer Ring Road never seems to go far enough in either direction to be a ring road. Okay, so Liverpool's on the coast, and a full circle was never likely, but this is little more than a straight line that happens to be near the city. Only the central section was ever built, so it doesn't get anywhere near as far around the urban area as it might.

In the 1990s the southern end was extended to the Mersey, which was the original intention, though calling it the M57 would be far too easy and instead it was built as an all-purpose road, the A5300.

The northern junction, Switch Island, was meant to be a standard roundabout interchange, with lots of fun free-flow links zooming across the top just for good measure. The M57 would have passed over to continue north to Formby. This never happened, and instead the 'temporary solution' roundabout was left to cope with two motorways and three busy dual-carriageways converging at once. The junction was modified a couple of times to attempt to cope with the traffic, so it's now made up of fragments of roundabout and lots of traffic lights. Plans being put forward will, bizarrely, remove the roundabout altogether and terminate the M57 at a traffic-light controlled T-junction on the A59.

Factfile

Start	Huyton (M62)
Finish	Aintree (A59)
Passes	Liverpool
Length	9 miles
Terminates	None
Spurs	None
Meets	None

Images

Views of the M57 from on and off the road. If you have a photo to contribute, contact me.

Joining the M57 southbound from Switch Island, a few small signs announce that yes, what is apparently a slip road is actually the start of the motorway.
Photo by Steven Jukes

Approaching this railway bridge, we get a wide carriageway on the right - where the rest of the motorway would have been - and even junction markings.
Photo by Steven Jukes

The M57 technically doesn't connect to any other motorway, and all the way along everything is roundabouts, roundabouts, roundabouts. The only free-flowing junction is here, where a set of free-flow sliproads connect to the A580 East Lancs Road.
Photo by Steven Jukes

At the southern terminus, we exit to the left to reach the M62. Straight on, over the flyover, the A5300 continues towards Widnes. But look at the signs - motorway restrictions end at this side, rather than where the all-purpose road merges in at the far end.
Photo by Steven Jukes

Construction Timeline

When the various parts of the M57 were built, listed in chronological order.

Open	Jct	Section
1972	J4-7	Liverpool Outer Ring Road - Phase 1
1974	J1-4	Liverpool Outer Ring Road - Phase 2

Exit List

All the junctions and destinations along the route.

Junction	Southbound				Northbound
1	Manchester Warrington Widnes M62 (M6 )	A5080 M62 (M6)	SOUTH A5300	M62 A5080	N/A

	Huyton Liverpool (Cen) M62

	Runcorn Liverpool A5300 (M56 )
	2 miles, 3 lanes				2 miles, 3 lanes
2	Prescot A57	A57 A58		A57 B5194	Prescot St Helens A57
	1 mile, 3 lanes
3	Huyton A526			(A57)
	4 miles, 3 lanes				5 miles, 3 lanes
4	Knowsley Industrial Est's A580	B5194 (A580)		(A580)	St Helens Bootle A580
	0 miles, 2 lanes				0 miles, 2 lanes
5	St Helens A580	A580		A580
	1 mile, 3 lanes				1 mile, 3 lanes
6	Kirkby Fazakerley A506	A506		A506	Kirkby Fazakerley A506
	2 miles, 3 lanes				2 miles, 3 lanes
7	N/A	A59 (M58)	NORTH	A59 A5036	Liverpool (Cen) A59

					All Docks Bootle A5036

					Southport (A570) Ormskirk A59

					Skelmersdale Wigan Preston (M6 ) M58