The M58 is a motorway passing through Merseyside and Lancashire, terminating in Greater Manchester. It is 12 miles (19.3 km) long and provides a link between the M6 motorway and the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton and hence on, via the A5036, to the Mersey docks in Liverpool and Birkenhead.
Route Apart from the approaches to its terminal roundabouts, the motorway is three lanes throughout. It starts at Switch Island in Merseyside and passes directly underneath the Merseyrail Northern Line. before striking out across open countryside and into Lancashire south of Maghull and Bickerstaffe. It then curves south Easterly south of Skelmersdale before reaching the M6 at Orrell in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester.
History Since 1949 an upgrade of the Wigan to Ormskirk route had been proposed to improve traffic flows, yet with the decision in 1961 to develop Skelmersdale as a new town, the proposals were revised to provide a link to the M6 at one end and Liverpool at the other.
Skelmersdale Up Holland Bypass In October 1965 the Skelmersdale Town Regional Road would cost £2million, a single carriageway, which would be constructed in a form to allow later upgrades to dual three-lane motorway standards, to begin in 1966. There had always been a plan of a route from Aintree to Preston.Liverpool Daily Post Thursday 14 October 1965, page 5 There would be access roads at Gillibrands, Digmoor and Pimbo.Ormskirk Advertiser Thursday 18 January 1968, page 8
The first part of the road was opened in late March 1968,The Motorway Archive – M58 as the 'kelmersdale Regional Road between what is now junctions 4 and 5.Ormskirk Advertiser Thursday 28 March 1968, page 7 It was built by Sir Alfred McAlpine and Fairclough Civil Engineering, who built most of Skelmersdale's spine roads.Skelmersdale Reporter Thursday 28 March 1968, page 6 It was originally a two-lane single carriageway road that was upgraded to two-lane plus with hard shoulders in 1973. The Regional Road was planned to be finished by 1970.
The next stage was to connect this road to the M6 and construction on this part began in 1968 and it was opened to traffic in October 1970 as all purpose dual carriageway. The M6 Link, the second stage of the Skelmersdale Up Holland Bypass, was opened on 1 October 1970 by Hervey Rhodes, Baron Rhodes, built by Dowsett Engineering Construction.Skelmersdale Reporter Wednesday 7 October 1970, page 15Skelmersdale Reporter Wednesday 14 July 1971, page 10
From September 1971 the first section of began construction for an upgrade to dual carriageway.Liverpool Echo Wednesday 11 August 1971 This dual carriageway opened on 8 January 1973, from the A5068 (junction 4) to the A577 (junction 5).Ormskirk Advertiser Thursday 11 January 1973, page 1
Construction as a motorway restrictions road Junctions 5 to 6, of the regional road was upgraded to dual three lanes with a hard shoulder in 1977. These roads were upgraded to motorway status in 1977.The Motorway Archive – M58 Dates Construction started around March 1976, being mostly an upgrade of the 'Regional Road', the A506. This section opened on 17 September 1977, being 3.5miles to the M6.Ormskirk Advertiser Thursday 16 March 1978, page 20
On opening of the new motorway, in late September 1977, there were over fifty offences of not keeping to new motorway regulations, such as riding bicycles and mopeds,Skelmersdale Reporter Wednesday 21 September 1977, page 1 but by November 1977 people were attempting to walk along the road, being often hitchhikers from the M6 junction.Skelmersdale Reporter Wednesday 2 November 1977
Construction on Switch Island to junction 4 section began in 1978 with the road opening between April and September 1980.
A £12.1million contract was given to Alfred McAlpine of Wirral, from Aintree to the Lancashire boundary, being . A £9.6million contract was given to Fairclough Civil Engineering, in early March 1978, from the Lancashire boundary to the A5068 at Skelmersdale, now junction 4, being ; it included a short section of widening of the Regional Road.Liverpool Daily Post Thursday 2 March 1978, page 8Ormskirk Advertiser Thursday 9 March 1978, page 1 Construction started in mid-April 1978. The section from the A5068, junction 4 at Skelmersdale, to A570, junction 3 at Bickerstaffe, opened on 1 June 1980.Ormskirk Advertiser Thursday 5 June 1980, page 10 The last section was planned to open on 22 August 1980, but opened on 21 September, being . It was six months late. The western mile-long section, from Aintree, was only two lanes, but had a wide central reservation, to allow a possible upgrade to three lanes.Ormskirk Advertiser Thursday 18 September 1980, page 1Liverpool Daily Post Monday 22 September 1980, page 7
Unfulfilled plans Junction 2 was not built, and was the end of a proposed motorway to Preston. This was originally given the designation A59(M) as an upgrade to the A59 and later referred to as the M59. However these proposals were dropped in favour of improvements to the existing A59.
At Switch Island, the junction has been built to allow an extension of the M57 and the end of M58 has provision for slip roads to the extension to be constructed.
Lancashire County Council had in 1949 also proposed a Wigan to Bolton road. Bridges had been built on the M61 to allow for this eventual continuation. Later plans saw the road downgraded to an A road; it would have reached the M61 between junctions 5 and 6. These plans have also been dropped and currently Wigan Borough Council has plans for a part dual and part single carriageway route to the A579 near Atherton.
Junctions {| class="plainrowheaders wikitable" |+ M58 motorway junctionsData from driver location signs are used to provide distance information.Driver Location Signs, Highway Agency Area 10 (map) – Highway Authority, 2009 |- !scope=col|Ceremonialcounty !scope=col|Location !scope=col|mi !scope=col|km !scope=col|Junction !scope=col|Destinations !scope=col|Notes |- | rowspan="2" |Merseyside |Liverpool |0 |0 |M57 J7 | – Kirkby, Widnes – Southport, Ormskirk – Bootle – Southport, Formby
| rowspan="2" |— |2.2 |3.6 |1 | – Kirkby, Maghull
| rowspan="3" |Lancashire |6.0 |9.6 |3 | – St Helens, Ormskirk, Southport
| rowspan="2" |Skelmersdale |7.7 |12.3 |4 | – Skelmersdale
|9.4 |15.1 |5 | – Skelmersdale, Pimbo, Upholland
|Greater Manchester |Wigan |11.6 |18.7 |6 | – Preston, The South, Manchester, Birmingham – Wigan |
Coordinate list
See also List of motorways in the United Kingdom
References
External links
Motorway Database – M58 Lancashire County Council – Historic Highways – M58 The Motorway Archive – M58