Highways England (HE) is set to start work on the new £192m Knutsford to Bowdon dual carriageway this weekend.

The highway agency will be closing the A556, M56 junctions 7 and 8 and M6 junction 19 over the weekend.

As part of the dual carriage project, HE will be replacing the A556 between the two motorways with the new dual carriageway, it is slated to open on 6 March this year.

The weekend closures are put in place by the highway agency in order to seal the old road and for the motorway junctions to be linked into the new dual carriageway.

Highways England project manager Paul Hampson said: “We’re delighted to be able to confirm that we can start work next week on preparations to open the new road with the first of these three scheduled weekend closures.

“We appreciate there will be some inconvenience for people wanting to use the A556 and the two motorway junctions over these weekends but we have worked hard to plan diversions for through traffic and local road users, which will be clearly-signed.

"The highway agency will be closing the A556, M56 junctions 7 and 8 and M6 junction 19 over the weekend."

“We’re working to publicise these but road users can help by taking a little bit of extra care in planning journeys, especially if they are heading to Manchester Airport on any of the three weekends.”

The construction of the new A556 link road, between the M56 and the M6, was initiated in November 2014 as part of a £15bn government investment in motorways and major A roads by 2021.

HE will be responsible to deliver these projects as part of the Northern Powerhouse initiative.

Image: A motorway in the UK. Photo: courtesy of Crown copyright.