The m53 motorway, running through Wirral, links up with the wallasey tunnel. Much of the aproach road to the tunnel links up with the old Seacombe Railway Line, which was abandoned. Th old track became very useful as it saved both knocking down property and also much work in cuting through the rock. Four of the existing railway bridges wee removed and replaced with three single span structures. The motorway then runs over bidston moss and by the poulton penny bridge. many piling operations had to be carried out on the moss and these were the deepest on Europe, being sunk to some 230 foot. One gioant tractor got stuck in the mud and slowly sank, being removed with difficulty! The motorway rises over the new brighton railway line. It is built on reinforced concreteiers at spans between 100- 160 feet.

my dads got a pic of him working on this if i get to my mothers i will pick it up and post!

you can see the very top of the bridge that is left from the old railway at the end of netto car park in seacombe.

yes, walk past that most days.....used to live in luke street as a very small child

i think one of my uncles died when kingsway caved at one point. another fact is that the approach was used in GTA3 as well

Wasn't there an airfield somewhere near the M53 junc 1/tunnel approach or am I mad?

I would imagine it would be a bit hilly round there for an airfield

https://www.wikiwirral.co.uk/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/204963/Bidston_Aerodrome.html#Post204963

Hey Rude!

Not sure if this has been posted on wiki already...

Subterranea Britannica has an excellent disused railway stations site. It covers Liscard & Poulton which shows the cutting that the railway took before they used it for the tunnel approach road.

Click

I stand corrected Chris



Any idea where it was by the station?

Sounds like it only really got as far as a soggy field with some 1/2 built hangers

Thats bloody brilliant. I have wanted to find pictures of this for ages.

Brill stuff snooze. Cheers.

Just something I found... interesting

This is a road that turned out very differently to the original plan. The M53 was intended to start at Birkenhead and run south to connect to the A55 near Queensferry. When it was finished as far as Bebington, the new Ellesmere Port Bypass towards Chester connected in and was numbered M531, with the intention that it would be a spur of the M53 when the motorway was finished, even though for the time being it was a direct continuation. When it became clear the M53 would never be extended any further, the M531 was absorbed into the mainline M53. It was then extended south from the end of what was M531, and joins the A55 east of Chester.

Between junctions 4 and 5 the carriageways split where the M53/M531 junction should have been. Driving through this junction is very strange: it's painfully clear that you're not on the same road any more, despite the continuous number. Until a few years ago, there was even an unused flyover wide enough for a three-lane motorway standing across the northbound carriageway. The Ellesmere Port Bypass feels like the little brother of the road to the north of there.

There's a thread that contains a link from a year or so back which gives the history.
https://www.wikiwirral.co.uk/forums..._M53_M531_The_History_Of.html#Post355928

Even more info - thanks!!!