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|---|---|---|---|---|
 M58 highlighted in blueShow interactive map  Shown with North West England motorway network Show North West England motorways map | ||||
 Junction 3 looking east, 2008 | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byNational Highways | ||||
| Length | 12 mi (19 km) | |||
| Existed | 1977–present | |||
| History | Constructed 1977–80 | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end | ||||
| Major intersections | ||||
| East end | Orrell | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United Kingdom | |||
| Primary destinations | Liverpool,Skelmersdale,Southport,Wigan | |||
| Road network | ||||
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TheM58 is amotorway passing throughMerseyside andLancashire, terminating inGreater Manchester. It is 12 miles (19.3 km) long and provides a link between theM6 motorway and theMetropolitan Borough of Sefton and hence on, via the A5036, to the Mersey docks in Liverpool and Birkenhead.
Apart from the approaches to its terminalroundabouts, the motorway is three lanes throughout. It starts atSwitch Island in Merseyside and passes directly underneath theMerseyrail Northern Line. before striking out across open countryside and into Lancashire south ofMaghull andBickerstaffe. It then curves south Easterly south ofSkelmersdale before reaching theM6 atOrrell in theMetropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester.
Since 1949 an upgrade of theWigan toOrmskirk route had been proposed to improve traffic flows, yet with the decision in 1961 to developSkelmersdale as a new town, the proposals were revised to provide a link to the M6 at one end and Liverpool at the other.[1]
In October 1965 the Skelmersdale Town Regional Road would cost £2 million, a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) single carriageway, which would be constructed in a form to allow later upgrades to dual three-lane motorway standards, to begin in 1966. There had always been a plan of a route from Aintree to Preston.[2] There would be access roads at Gillibrands, Digmoor and Pimbo.[3]
The first part of the road was opened in late March 1968,[4] as the 'kelmersdale Regional Road between what is now junctions 4 and 5.[5] It was built by Sir Alfred McAlpine and Fairclough Civil Engineering, who built most of Skelmersdale's spine roads.[6] It was originally a two-lane single carriageway road that was upgraded to two-lane plus withhard shoulders in 1973.[1] The Regional Road was planned to be finished by 1970.
The next stage was to connect this road to the M6 and construction on this part began in 1968 and it was opened to traffic in October 1970 asall purposedual carriageway. The M6 Link, the second stage of the Skelmersdale Up Holland Bypass, was opened on 1 October 1970 byHervey Rhodes, Baron Rhodes, built by Dowsett Engineering Construction.[7][8]
From September 1971 the first section of 1.5 miles (2.4 km) began construction for an upgrade to dual carriageway.[9] This dual carriageway opened on 8 January 1973, from the A5068 (junction 4) to the A577 (junction 5).[10]
Junctions 5 to 6, of the regional road was upgraded to dual three lanes with a hard shoulder in 1977.[1] These roads were upgraded to motorway status in 1977.[11] Construction started around March 1976, being mostly an upgrade of the 'Regional Road', the A506. This section opened on 17 September 1977, being 3.5 miles to the M6.[12]
On opening of the new motorway, in late September 1977, there were over fifty offences of not keeping to new motorway regulations, such as riding bicycles and mopeds,[13] but by November 1977 people were attempting to walk along the road, being often hitchhikers from the M6 junction.[14]
Construction onSwitch Island to junction 4 section began in 1978 with the road opening between April and September 1980.[11]
A £12.1 million contract was given toAlfred McAlpine of Wirral, from Aintree to the Lancashire boundary, being 3.7 miles (6.0 km). A £9.6 million contract was given toFairclough Civil Engineering, in early March 1978, from the Lancashire boundary to the A5068 at Skelmersdale, now junction 4, being 4.3 miles (6.9 km); it included a short section of widening of the Regional Road.[15][16] Construction started in mid-April 1978. The section from the A5068, junction 4 at Skelmersdale, to A570, junction 3 at Bickerstaffe, opened on 1 June 1980.[17] The last section was planned to open on 22 August 1980, but opened on 21 September, being 6.5 miles (10.5 km). It was six months late. The western mile-long section, from Aintree, was only two lanes, but had a wide central reservation, to allow a possible upgrade to three lanes.[18][19]
Junction 2 was not built, and was the end of a proposed motorway toPreston.[20] This was originally given the designation A59(M) as an upgrade to the A59 and later referred to as the M59. However these proposals were dropped in favour of improvements to the existing A59.
At Switch Island, the junction has been built to allow an extension of theM57 and the end of M58 has provision for slip roads to the extension to be constructed.[4]
Lancashire County Council had in 1949 also proposed a Wigan toBolton road. Bridges had been built on theM61 to allow for this eventual continuation.[1] Later plans saw the road downgraded to anA road; it would have reached the M61 between junctions 5 and 6. These plans have also been dropped and currentlyWigan Borough Council has plans for a part dual and part single carriageway route to theA579 nearAtherton.
Data fromdriver location signs are used to provide distance information.[21]
| Ceremonial county | Location | mi | km | Junction | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merseyside | Liverpool | 0 | 0 | M57 J7[coord 1] |  M57 –Kirkby,Widnes | |
| — | 2.2 | 3.6 | 1[coord 2] |  A506 –Kirkby,Maghull | ||
| Lancashire | 6.0 | 9.6 | 3[coord 3] |  A570 –St Helens,Ormskirk,Southport | ||
| Skelmersdale | 7.7 | 12.3 | 4[coord 4] |  A5068 –Skelmersdale | ||
| 9.4 | 15.1 | 5[coord 5] |  A577 –Skelmersdale,Pimbo,Upholland | |||
| Greater Manchester | Wigan | 11.6 | 18.7 | 6[coord 6] |  M6 –Preston,The South,Manchester,Birmingham | |
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | ||||||
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