National Highways says a major phase of the £200 million project to upgrade the M6 between Warrington and Wigan is about to be completed.

Final work to install a concrete central reservation safety barrier between junction 21a and junction 23 will be marked with a change of traffic management – allowing work to convert the hard shoulder along both the southbound and northbound carriageways to begin. Conversion of the hard shoulders between junction 23 and junction 26 is already underway with the new concrete central reservation barrier being completed between those two junctions back in February.

The completion of all work in the central reservation – which has included fitting miles of new drainage pipes as well as the concrete barrier – will allow the same traffic management arrangements to run all the way between junction 21a and junction 26 with the hard shoulder closed in both directions along the full length of the motorway to facilitate the work to turn them into running lanes.

National Highways project manager Dave Cooke said: “Completing the central reservation barrier along the full ten miles of the project is a milestone for us and we’re now totally focused on converting the hard shoulder to deliver the much-needed capacity the project will deliver once the upgraded motorway fully opens to drivers next spring. 

“We’d like to thank the 120,000 businesses, commuters and other drivers who use this section of the M6 every day for their continued support and patience as we work to complete this important investment.”

(Picture – National Highways)