National Highways announces £50m will be spent on maintenance, renewals and repairs on the M53 motorway in Wirral. Tony McDonough reports
National Highways is to spend £50m on upgrades for the M53 motorway in Wirral including the replacement of four ageing bridges.
This maintenance, renewal and repairs programme will take place between 2026 and 2029 and will involve both overnight lane closures and a “limited number” of weekend motorway closures for demolition and installation phases. This programme includes:
- Eastham viaduct – replacing the expansion joints on the bridge between junctions 4 and 5.
- Junctions 7 to 10 – £5.2m resurfacing and £455,000 of drainage improvements between Ellesmere Port and Little Stanney.
- Upton Road bridge – replacing the bridge decks over the motorway between junctions 2 and 3.
- Raby Hall Road bridge – replacing the bridge over the M53 between junctions 4 and 5.
- Clatterbridge interchange – replacing the two bridges which form part of the roundabout over the M53 at junction 4.
Work at Eastham Viaduct will start on Monday, May 18, 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.
Stretching almost 19 miles between Chester and Wallasey, the M53 was built 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.
This 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 2015 and 2021 as well as refurbishment of Bidston Moss Viaduct at junction 1.
Over the next three years, National Highways will plan and deliver the replacement of four ageing bridges, alongside targeted repairs, resurfacing and drainage improvements.
This forms part of the Government’s £27bn five-year Road Investment Strategy which has allocated £8.4bn 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.
Each of the new bridge decks will be assembled alongside the motorway and wheeled into place once the old bridges have been demolished . Some of the work will focus on preparing the bridge supports alongside the hard shoulder for the new bridges.
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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.”