M56 motorway

The **M56**, or **North Cheshire Motorway**, is a motorway in North West England. It links Chester with Manchester. It also links to the A55, which links drivers to North Wales. The motorway also passes Manchester Airport. The motorway also crosses the M6, linking it to Chester and Manchester. The motorway is about  long.

## Junctions

|colspan="5"|**M56 motorway junctions**|||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|mile|km|Eastbound exits (B Carriageway)|Junction|Westbound exits (A Carriageway)||||
|||_Motorway merges onto_ <span style="color:white; background:#0079C1">**M60**</span> _continuing towards Stockport_|M60 J4|_Start of motorway (Sharston Spur)_||||
|||Manchester City Centre, Didsbury <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A34**</span>|J1|_No access (on-slip only)_||||
|||_No access (on-slip only)_|J2|Altrincham, Wythenshawe <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A560**</span>, Liverpool <span style="color:white; background:#0079C1">**(M62)**</span>, Bolton <span style="color:white; background:#0079C1">**(M61)**</span> <span style="color:white; background:#0079C1">**(M60)**</span>||||
|||_End of motorway Road continues as_ <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A5103**</span> _towards Manchester_|rowspan=2|J3A|Sharston, Altrincham, Baguley <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A560**</span>|||
|||Altrincham, Wythenshawe, Wythenshawe , Cheadle <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A560**</span>|_Start of motorway (Princess Parkway Spur)_|||||
|||Manchester City Centre, <span style="color:white; background:#0079C1">**(M60(N&W))**</span>, <span style="color:white; background:#0079C1">**(M62(W))**</span>, <span style="color:white; background:#0079C1">**(M61)**</span> <span style="color:white; background:#0079C1">**(A5103)**</span>|J3 (TOTSO EB)|_No access (on-slip only)_||||
|7.2|11.6|_No access (on-slip only)_|J4|Wythenshawe||||
|||_End of motorway_ Wilmslow, Wythenshawe <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A555**</span> <span style="color:black; background:white">**(B5166)**</span>, Business Park, <span style="color:white; background:purple">**Terminal 3**</span> <span style="color:white; background:green">**Terminal 1**</span>,||_Start of motorway (Airport Spur)_||||
|||Terminal 2||_No access (on-slip only)_||||
|7.8|12.6|Manchester|J5|Manchester , <span style="color:white; background:#794400">**Quarry Bank Mill**</span>||||
|8.9|14.3|Hale, Wilmslow, Macclesfield <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A538**</span>|J6|Wilmslow, Hale, Macclesfield, <span style="color:white; background:black">**Manchester Airport Freight Terminal**</span> <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A538**</span>||||
|||style=background:skyblue|_Entering Greater Manchester_|rowspan=2||_River Bollin_||
|||_River Bollin_|style=background:skyblue|_Entering Cheshire_||||
|12.4|19.9|Northwich <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A556**</span>, Altrincham <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A56**</span>|J7|Birmingham <span style="color:white; background:#0079C1">**(M6(S))**</span>, Northwich <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A556**</span>, Lymm <span style="color:black; background:white">**A56**</span>||||
|||_No access_|J8|_No access (on-slip only)_||||
|17.6|28.3|Preston, Birmingham <span style="color:white; background:#0079C1">**M6**</span>, Leeds, Manchester (N) <span style="color:white; background:#0079C1">**(M62)**</span>, Lymm <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**(A50)**</span> _Lymm Truck Stop_|J9 _Services_|Preston <span style="color:white; background:#0079C1">**M6**</span>, Liverpool <span style="color:white; background:#0079C1">**(M62)**</span>, Warrington, Lymm <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**(A50)**</span> _Lymm Truck Stop_||||
|20.8|33.4|Warrington, Northwich <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A49**</span>|J10|Northwich, Warrington <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A49**</span>||||
|23.8|38.3|Runcorn (East), Warrington <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A56**</span>|J11|Preston Brook, Daresbury <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A56**</span>||||
|||bgcolor=#ffdead|<span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A533**</span>|bgcolor=#ffdead|J11A|bgcolor=#ffdead|<span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A533**</span>|
|26.8|43.1|Liverpool , Runcorn, Widnes <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A557**</span>|J12|Liverpool , Frodsham, Runcorn, Widnes <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A557**</span>||||
|||colspan=3|_Weaver Viaduct_|||||
|31.9|51.4|Stanlow, Helsby <span style="color:black; background:white">**A5117**</span> _Chester services_|J14 _Services_|Helsby, Stanlow, <span style="color:white; background:#794400">**Chester Zoo**</span> <span style="color:black; background:white">**A5117**</span> _Chester services_||||
|34.5|55.6|_No access (on-slip only)_|rowspan=2|J15|Chester, Wrexham <span style="color:white; background:#0079C1">**M53**</span>|||
|||_No access (on-slip only)_|Ellesmere Port, Birkenhead <span style="color:white; background:#0079C1">**M53**</span>|||||
|||_Start of motorway_|rowspan=2|J16|_End of motorway Road continues as_ <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A494**</span> _towards North Wales_|||
|||Ellesmere Port <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**A5117**</span>, Whitchurch <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**(A41)**</span> _Non-motorway traffic_|Hoylake, Chester <span style="color:black; background:white">**A540**</span>, Birkenhead <span style="color:#FFD200; background:#00703C">**(A550)**</span> ==References==|||||

## Infobox (road)

- **country**: GBR
- **type**: M
- **route**: 56
- **alternate name**: North Cheshire Motorway
- **length mi**: 33.3
- **direction a**: East
- **direction b**: West
- **terminus a**: Cheadle, Greater Manchester, Cheadle
- **counties**: Greater Manchester, Cheshire
- **destinations**: Manchester
Manchester Airport
Warrington
Runcorn
Ellesmere Port
- **terminus b**: Mollington, Cheshire, Mollington
- **previous type**: M
- **next type**: M
- **previous route**: 55
- **next route**: 57
- **established**: 1971
- **history**: Opened: 1971
Completed: 1981
- **junction**:
J1 → M60 motorway

J9 → M6 motorway

J15 → M53 motorway
- **map**: M56 motorway (Great Britain) map.svg
- **maint**: Highways England
- **photo**: M56 motorway from A5117.JPG
- **photo notes**: Looking east from Junction 14