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The M63 motorway was a major road in the United Kingdom. It was completely renumbered, in 1998, to become a substantial part of the M60 motorway which orbits part of Greater Manchester.
M63 | ||||
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![]() Map of the M63 in 1998 | ||||
![]() Barton High Level Bridge carried the M63 across the Manchester Ship Canal | ||||
Route information | ||||
Maintained by Highways Agency | ||||
Length | 15 mi (24 km) | |||
History |
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Major junctions | ||||
Northwest end | Eccles | |||
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Southeast end | Stockport | |||
Location | ||||
Country | United Kingdom | |||
Counties | Greater Manchester | |||
Primary destinations | ||||
Road network | ||||
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The earliest section of the M63 opened in 1960 as part of the M62 motorway. [1] In anticipation of the 1974 opening of the westward extension of the M62 to Liverpool, the existing section of motorway south of the Eccles Interchange was renumbered as the M63 in 1968.
This was the first stretch of motorway to be built, opening as the M62. This section runs from the Worsley Interchange (what is now Junction 13 of the M60) as far as the junction with the A56 at Chester Road (now junction 7 of the M60). This section includes the Barton High Level Bridge, a bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal. The embankments for the bridge were the first physical step towards the construction of any motorway in the UK, and this section of motorway was the fourth section of motorway to open in the UK (the first three being the M6 Preston Bypass, the M1/M10/M45 London-Rugby motorway system and the M6 Lancaster Bypass). [2]
Originally the junctions were numbered from 1 at Chester Road to 6 at Worsley. Anticipating the extension of the M62 west to Liverpool in 1974, the section from the Eccles Interchange down to Stretford was redesignated M63 in 1968, but retained the original junction numbers (with the new M62's junctions being renumbered).
In 1974, the junctions in this section were renumbered in the opposite direction, with M63 junction 1 being the Eccles Interchange, running to junction 7 at Chester Road. Originally there was no junction 6.
When the M63 became part of the M60 in 1998, the junctions were renumbered yet again, with M60 junction 12 being the Eccles Interchange, running to junction 7 at Chester Road.
In 1986, work began on two major schemes on the route.
The first involved the construction of the A6144(M) motorway, and a new junction and parallel link roads for the M63. The new junction was numbered as junction 6 (now junction 8 of the M60). The new junction forced the closure of junction 5, which served Urmston and the B5213, due to the small gap between the two.
The second involved the widening of the motorway between the Eccles Interchange and junction 3 (now junction 9 of the M60), including the Barton motorway bridge, which was a major engineering feat.
This section of motorway was the third section of the motorway completed, opening as the M63 in September 1974, just 8 months after the section of the Sharston bypass opened. The route largely followed the lightly developed valley and flood plains of the River Mersey, so much of the motorway was on a raised embankment to be clear of potential floodwater. Some of the excavated land for the embankment allowed construction of Sale Water Park, which is adjacent to the motorway. The section of motorway ran from what was then junction 7 at Chester Road (A56) to the recently completed Kingsway Interchange with the A34, what was then junction 10 of the M63 (now junction 3/4 of the M60).
A major free-flow junction was provided for the A5103 Princess Parkway, which provided links towards the city of Manchester and the M56 motorway.
This section of motorway was the second section completed, opening as the M63 (and part as the M56 motorway) in January 1974. It was only a short section, running from what is now junction 2 of the M56 to junction 2 of the M60 (then junction 11 of the M63), but it included a very large free-flow junction providing links to the M56 and A34.
By 1974, the motorway had reached the outskirts of Stockport, running onto the congested A560. The 2.5-mile (4.0 km) Stockport East-West bypass opened to traffic in July 1982 as far as the Portwood Roundabout, then junction 13 of the M63, now junction 27 of the M60.
A significant feature of the bypass is where the motorway passes through two of the arches of the large railway viaduct in the centre of Stockport (one of the largest brick-built structures in Europe). In much of the cutting on the eastern side of the viaduct, red sandstone, on which much of the town is built, can be seen very close to the motorway.
The section of motorway was widened from two to three lane carriageways in 1999 and 2000, around the time when the M63 was renumbered to M60.
This scheme was part of a wider scheme, which involved the construction of a section of what was then the M66 motorway as far as the junction with the A57 and M67 motorway. The M63 was extended eastwards from the Portwood roundabout to a junction at Brinnington, opening in April 1989.
The complete scheme intended for the M63 to continue east from Brinnington to join the A560 at Hattersley, and for the M66 to continue south becoming A6(M) motorway, forming a Stockport North-South bypass. However, the remaining plans for the M63 were subsequently abandoned, and the southern extension, although it still exists at the planning stage in an altered and downgraded form, has yet to be built.
The junction at Brinnington (now junction 25 of the M60, then junction 15 of the M63) left room for both the extension to the east and the A6(M) to be constructed. As a result, the entry to junction 25 in the anti- clockwise direction is from the outside lane, and the carriageways passing through this junction have sharp corners on the M60 main-line, as these were originally intended to be slip roads. In the clockwise direction the motorway is now subject to a reduced speed limit through the junction. The current plans for the North-South bypass do not intend to complete the junction as originally intended, or to utilise stubs of the slip roads already constructed in preparation. [3]
This section was widened from two to three lane carriageways along with the Stockport East-West Bypass in 1999 and 2000.
Northwest | 1960 | M62 | 6 | – | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | 1 | × | M62 | Southeast | ||||||||
1968 | 6 | – | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | 1 | × | M63 | |||||||||||
1971 | 13 | 6 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | 1 | × | ||||||||||||
1974 | 13 | 1 12 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | – | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | × | ||||||||
1982 | 13 | 1 12 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | – | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | × | ||||||
1989 | 13 | 1 12 | 2 | 3 | 4 | – | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | |||||
◀ Clockwise | 1998 | M60 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | – | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 26 | 25 | M60 | Anticlockwise ▶ |
Timeline of M63 junction numbers |
× | Motorway not open |
– | Motorway open but no junction |
Despite the M63 being renumbered in 1998 to M60, many roadsigns still existed pointing travellers to the M63 until late 2005. One existed on the roundabout Redclyffe Circle near the Trafford Centre stating "Stockport M63, Carrington", but this was replaced with an M60 sign in the period 2012–2014. [4] There were also two signs on Manchester Road, Wilmslow, one of which was still in place in October 2021. [5] [6] Another sign could be found on Trafford Road, Salford Quays across the road from Exchange Quay. However, one sign has been recently removed. Located at the roundabout joining Alderley Road in Wilmslow, the sign was still in place in June 2016, [7] but it has since been removed.
The M60 motorway, Manchester Ring Motorway or Manchester Outer Ring Road is an orbital motorway in North West England. Built over a 40-year period, it passes through most of Greater Manchester's metropolitan boroughs except for Wigan and Bolton. Most of Manchester is encompassed within the motorway, except for the southernmost part of the city which is served by the M56.
The A1, also known as the Great North Road, is the longest numbered road in the United Kingdom, at 410 miles (660 km). It connects London, the capital of England, with Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The numbering system for A-roads, devised in the early 1920s, was based around patterns of roads radiating from two hubs at London and Edinburgh. The first number in the system, A1, was given to the most important part of that system: the road from London to Edinburgh, joining the two central points of the system and linking the UK's (then) two mainland capital cities. It passes through or near north London, Hatfield, Welwyn Garden City, Stevenage, Baldock, Letchworth Garden City, Biggleswade, Eaton Socon, Buckden, Peterborough, Stamford, Grantham, Newark-on-Trent, Retford, Doncaster, Pontefract, York, Wetherby, Ripon, Darlington, Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, Morpeth, Alnwick and Berwick-upon-Tweed.
The M62 is a 107-mile-long (172 km) west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting Liverpool and Hull via Manchester, Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield; 7 miles (11 km) of the route is shared with the M60 orbital motorway around Manchester. The road is part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22.
The M67 is a 5-mile (8.0 km) urban motorway in Greater Manchester, England, which heads east from the M60 motorway passing through Denton and Hyde before ending near Mottram. The road was originally conceived as the first section of a trans-Pennine motorway between Manchester and Sheffield that would connect the A57(M) motorway with the M1 motorway; however, the motorway became the only part to be built.
The A6 is one of the main north–south roads in England. It runs from Luton in Bedfordshire to Carlisle in Cumbria, although it formerly started at a junction with the A1 at Barnet. It is the fourth longest numbered road in Britain; only the A1, A38 and A30 are longer.
The A57 is a major road in England. It runs east from Liverpool to Lincoln via Warrington, Salford and Manchester, and then through the Pennines over the Snake Pass (between the high moorlands of Bleaklow and Kinder Scout), around the Ladybower Reservoir, through Sheffield and past Worksop. Between Liverpool and Glossop, the road has largely been superseded by the M62, M602 and M67 motorways. Within Manchester a short stretch becomes the Mancunian Way, designated A57(M).
The M56 motorway serves the Cheshire and Greater Manchester areas of England. It runs east to west from junction 4 of the M60 at Gatley, south of Manchester, to Dunkirk, approximately four miles north of Chester. With a length of 33.3 miles (53.6 km), it connects North Wales and the Wirral peninsula with much of the rest of North West England, serves business and commuter traffic heading towards Manchester, particularly that from the wider Cheshire area, and provides the main road access to Manchester Airport from the national motorway network.
The M61 is a motorway in North West England between Manchester and Preston, linking the M60 Manchester orbital motorway with the M6 motorway.
The A6144(M) was a motorway in Carrington, Greater Manchester, England. It was known in official documentation as the Carrington Spur Road and built to facilitate the transport of hazardous goods from Shell Chemicals' ethylene oxide plant in Carrington and other industrial estates in Carrington and Broadheath. It was extremely unusual in that it was entirely single carriageway, the only motorway of its kind in the UK as others were dual carriageway for at least some of their length.
The A49 is an A road in western England, which traverses the Welsh Marches region. It runs north from Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire via Hereford, Leominster, Ludlow, Shrewsbury and Whitchurch, then continues through central Cheshire to Warrington and Wigan before terminating at its junction with the A6 road just south of Bamber Bridge, near the junction of the M6, M65 and M61 motorways.
The M66, also known as the Bury Easterly Bypass, is a motorway in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, England. It is 8 miles (13 km) long and provides part of the route between the M62 and M60 motorways and the M65, with the rest being provided by the A56.
The M602 motorway is a 4-mile (6.4 km) motorway, leading traffic into Salford, Greater Manchester, England, towards Manchester city centre and by-passing the town of Eccles.
The A54 road is a road in England linking Chester in Cheshire with Buxton in Derbyshire. Its route through both urban and steep rural areas presents a challenge to Cheshire County Council in maintaining the safety of the road. Many years ago it was the main east–west route in Cheshire. The importance of the A54 through Middlewich and Winsford decreased in the 1970s and 1980s with the building of the M56 motorway and dualling of the A556 at Northwich. The section through Winsford carries approximately 30,000 vehicles per day.
The A56 is a road in England which extends between the city of Chester in Cheshire and the village of Broughton in North Yorkshire. The road contains a mixture of single and dual carriageway sections, and traverses environments as diverse as the dense urban sprawl of inner city Manchester and the lightly populated region of rural east Lancashire. The road includes a short section of trunk road between the end of the M66 motorway near Ramsbottom and the M65 motorway west of Burnley.
There are various modes of transport available in Warrington.
The A5117 is a road in Cheshire, England. It runs between Shotwick (53.2374°N 2.9875°W) and Helsby (53.2613°N 2.7814°W) and connects the A550 at Woodbank to the M56. As such it forms a northerly bypass to Chester and a shorter route between the North West and North Wales than the A55.
The A556 is a road in England which extends from the village of Delamere in Cheshire West and Chester to the Bowdon Interchange in Cheshire East, bordering Greater Manchester. The road contains a mixture of single and dual carriageway sections and forms a large part of the route between Manchester and Chester. It also acts as a major access route to Chester/North Wales to the west and to Manchester to the east for the conurbation of towns and villages around the Dane Valley centering on Winsford and Northwich. The central part, which forms the Northwich Bypass between Davenham and Lostock Gralam, suffers because of the amount of commuter traffic from this area. The part of the route between the M6 motorway Junction 19 and the M56 motorway Junction 7 is a major route into Manchester and has been recently upgraded to a four-lane dual carriageway.
The A5103 is a major road in England. It runs from Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre to junction 3 of the M56 motorway and is one of Manchester's principal radial routes.