£50 million middle-aged make-over for M53

The first instalment of a £50 million fit-for-the-future investment in Merseyside and Cheshire’s M53 motorway will get under way next week.

Over the next three years, National Highways will carefully plan and deliver the replacement of four ageing bridges, alongside targeted repairs, resurfacing and drainage improvements - all while keeping motorway traffic moving on one of the region’s most important transport arteries.

The programme of work is part of the Government’s £27 billion five-year Road Investment Strategy which has allocated £8.4 billion for resurfacing carriageways and renewing bridges between 2026 and 2031.

Many of the bridges crossing or forming part of the M53 were built decades ago and are now in need of significant work to ensure their continued use.

While a £3 million routine maintenance project will start along Eastham Viaduct on Monday (18 May) National Highways is currently determining the details, including traffic management, for the package of bridge deck replacements over the motorway at Upton Road, Raby Hall Road and Clatterbridge junction.  Bridge decks carry traffic over the motorway and are supported by the bridge structure itself.

For each of the projects, overnight lane closures along the M53 will be used where possible - with a limited number of weekend motorway closures for demolition and installation phases.  Traffic management will also need to be installed along the local road network.

Each of the new bridge decks will be assembled alongside the motorway and wheeled into place once the old bridges have been demolished – echoing bridge replacement work at Moreton, at junction 2 of the motorway, several years ago. Some of the work will focus on preparing the bridge supports alongside the hard shoulder for the new bridges.

Amy Williams, National Highways’ director for the North West, said:

“Parts of the M53 were built almost 55 years ago at a time when traffic volumes and the weight of vehicles was considerably lower.

“This £50 million maintenance, renewals and repairs package – including the new bridge decks - will help secure safe, smooth and reliable journeys for businesses, commuters, residents and other motorway users for many years to come.”

The M53 programme in detail includes:

• Eastham viaduct - replacement of the expansion joints along the bridge between junction 4 and junction 5. The viaduct carries the motorway over the Wirral Circular Trail and the main Merseyrail Wirral line between Chester and Liverpool.  Expansion joints are mechanisms which allow bridge structures to expand and contract safely during changes in temperature

• £5.2 million resurfacing and £455,000 drainage improvements between junction 7 at Ellesmere Port and junction 10 at Little Stanney.  

• Upton Road bridge - replacement of the bridge decks here which carry the A5027 local road over the motorway between junction 2 and junction 3

• Raby Hall Road bridge - replacement of this bridge which carries the local road over the M53 between junction 4 and junction 5.

• Clatterbridge interchange - The two bridges over the M53 at junction 4 at Clatterbridge will also be replaced. These two bridges form part of the roundabout over the M53 at junction 4.

National Highways is also planning to host a number of public information events so road users and other local people can find out more about the programme of work.

The work at Eastham Viaduct will start next week with a number of overnight carriageway closures to set out narrow lane traffic management on the Northbound and Southbound carriageways. Works will continue into the autumn.

The resurfacing and drainage work will start in July and also run into the autumn with regular overnight single carriageway closures and clearly-signed diversions in place.

Commuters, businesses and other motorway users, as well as locals relying on local roads affected by the bridge replacement projects, are being encouraged to sign up for regular updates via the scheme webpage.

While much of the work along the M53 might appear to road users to be ‘like-for-like’ renewals, the 20^th century bridge decks are being replaced with new decks delivered to 21^st century standards and designs.

The M53, which runs for almost 19 miles between Chester in Cheshire and Wallasey in Merseyside, was constructed in several phases with the northern section serving the Mersey tunnels opened in 1972 and the final, southern, stretch to Hoole outside Chester city centre, completed in 1982.

The latest package of work will provide the biggest investment in the M53 since the two bridges at junction 2 at Moreton were replaced in separate projects completed in in 2015 and 2021 as well as refurbishment of Bidston Moss Viaduct at junction 1 between 2010 and 2012 to remove HGV weight restrictions.

More details here...

https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-roads/north-west/m53-bridges/