A5758 road
| A5758 road | |
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| Route information | |
| Length: | 2.8 mi (4.5 km) |
| Major junctions | |
| From: | Thornton |
 A565 road
 A5036 road |
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| To: | Switch Island |
| Road network | |
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The A5758 (also known as the A5758 Broom's Cross Road or the Thornton to Switch Island Link road) is a 2.8 mile (4.5 km) road, constructed during 2014-2015 and linking the A565 road in Thornton to Switch Island junction. The route is constructed as a 10 metre wide, two lane single carriageway with 1m wide hardstrips and a 2.5 metre wide verge, with a 50 mph speed limit. The road has some sections on low embankment and others in shallow cutting where it runs close to existing residential properties, but is mostly close to existing ground level. Surface drainage is collected by a kerb and gully system and discharged into four new attenuation ponds. The route is only lit where there are specific safety reasons for doing so, such as junctions and crossings along the route. There are no footways along the route other than specific pedestrian crossing points.[1]
Sefton Council gave their approval in September 2013 with construction starting towards the end of the 2013 calendar year.[2] The cost is in the region of £19.5m[2] with the UK Government contributing £14.5m towards that and Sefton Council contributing £5m.[3]
The new road is named the A5758 Broom's Cross Road.[4] Broom's Cross is the site of a medieval wayside cross near Thornton with the road numbering referencing the two motorways the road links up to, the M57 and M58 motorway respectively.
Development
The road has had almost unanimous community support during public consultations in recent years. The need for an improved route between Switch Island and the main Southport Road was first identified as far back as 1968, during planning for the M57, M58 and M62 motorways.
Soon after the motorways opened, a number of proposals to allow traffic to bypass Thornton and Netherton were developed, given increased road traffic over the years that followed added to the congestion throughout Thornton.
Four different options were put forward in the early 1990s to ease the congestion. Amongst these suggestions were plans to fell woodlands in Ince Woods and disturb land around St Joseph's Hospice in Thornton. The suggestion eventually identified by councillors as their preferred plan was ultimately rejected at a public inquiry in 1995. Five years later in 2000, a public consultation began which proposed six possible options, with agreement eventually being reached in 2003 on a new single carriageway road link between Switch Island and the A565 Southport Road, Thornton.[5]
Construction
Contractors Balfour Beatty marked out the route of the bypass in October 2013 offering the first glimpse of where the road will be built,[4] following completion of the land acquisition after a public inquiry held in October 2012 raised two objections to the compulsory purchase order needed to acquire the land to build on.[6]
Initial land works began in January 2014 with an initial expected date of completion being in the final quarter of 2014. However, it was reported in November 2014 that the project had been subject to a delay, due to poor weather and ground conditions, with the completion date pushed back to Spring 2015. Works to connect the new road to the main junction at Switch Island concluded by the end of December 2014 with the second phase of works taking place mostly throughout the night in January 2015 to minimise disruption.[7]
The road surface began to be laid in February 2015 with a revised opening of Spring 2015 forecast.[8] It was reported in March 2015 that due to frost and rainfall, the date of opening had been set to at least May 2015.
Jospice, a local hospice close to the new road, organised a charitable walk along the new road prior to opening, with donations of £5 per person going towards the Jospice charity. The event occurred on Saturday 16 May 2015, after previously being postponed several times due to delays in construction.[9]
After further slippage in the timescales, the opening date was revised from late June 2015 to 19 August 2015.[10] The delay has been explained as being due to needing to undertake additional work to stabilise the road foundation in two locations to make it suitable to lay tarmac on. The road opened on the evening of 19 August.[11]
Operation
It was reported in January 2016 that a section of the road would need to undergo a series of repair works during the evenings of a three week period, just 5 months after opening to traffic.[12]
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to A5758 road (England). |
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- ↑ Southport Visiter
- ↑ https://www.sefton.gov.uk/news/brooms-cross-road-now-open-to-traffic.aspx
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A roads in Zone 5 of the Great Britain road numbering scheme
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