Road users will be pleased to know that Windle Island Junction will fully reopen this Friday (26 April) – three weeks earlier than expected.
The £7m investment to improve the oldest purpose designed intercity highway in the UK – which sees around 43,000 vehicles pass through a day – began in August 2018 to increase junction capacity; improve pedestrian safety, smooth traffic flow – and provide better access in and out of St Helens.
The A570/A580 reopened yesterday morning (24 April) and the Crank Road junction opened today (25 April) – however off peak closures will be in place on all approaches to Windle Island tomorrow between the hours of 9:30am-3:30pm to allow for tarmacking and finishing touches to grassed areas to be made ahead of the junction’s full reopening that evening.
Over half of the Windle Island junction improvement scheme has been funded by the Local Growth Fund through the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s Single Investment Fund to address key issues in St Helens, and to support economic growth in the wider City Region.
Improvements include:
- Controlled pedestrian crossings on all arms of the junctions (including Toucan cycling crossings on the southern and eastern arms) using the latest energy efficient traffic signal equipment
- A new four lane southbound approach to Windle Island Junction, providing a dedicated left turning lane to A580 eastbound towards Manchester and a dedicated right turning lane to A580 westbound towards Liverpool
- The reintroduction of two lanes southbound through the junction, with the left hand lane for St Helens Town Centre via Rainford Road (including Tesco and Starbucks access), and the right hand lane for Eccleston and Prescot via Bleak Hill Road
- A new left turn deceleration lane from A580 westbound onto A570 southbound to reduce queue lengths and improve safety
- Two dedicated right turn lanes from the A580 westbound (towards Liverpool) onto the A570 northbound (towards Rainford). This will reduce queue lengths
- A new 40 mph speed limit around the junction to improve safety
This was a colossal project which took many months of planning, so the council would like to thank road users for their patience and it’s good to see positive comments already about people experiencing smoother journeys – one of the key reasons why this development was needed in the first place as we look to create well-connected, safe and accessible transport and digital networks across the borough.