M58 motorway

The M58 is a motorway passing through Merseyside and Lancashire, terminating in Greater Manchester. It is 12 miles (19.3 km) long and provides a link between the M6 motorway and the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton.RouteApart from the approaches to its terminal roundabouts, the motorway is three lanes throughout. It starts at Switch Island in Merseyside and passes directly underneath the Merseyrail Northern Line. before striking out across open countryside and into Lancashire south of Maghull and Bickerstaffe. It then curves south westerly south of Skelmersdale before reaching the M6 at Orrell in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester.HistorySince 1949 an upgrade of the Wigan to Ormskirk route had been proposed to improve traffic flows, yet with the decision in 1961 to develop Skelmersdale as a new town, the proposals were revised to provide a link to the M6 at one end and Liverpool at the other.The first part of the road was opened in March 1968 as the Skelmersdale Regional Road between what is now junctions 4 & 5. It was originally a two lane single carriageway road that was upgraded to 2 lane plus with hard shoulders in 1973.