M53 motorway
The M53 is a 18.9-mile (30.4 km) motorway in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and Cheshire on the Wirral Peninsula in England. It can also be referred to as the Mid Wirral Motorway. It runs between the Kingsway Tunnel, at Wallasey in the north, and the A55 at Chester.
The main reason for the motorway was to provide a through route to the new Mersey Road Tunnel, Kingsway, which was built at the same time. Part of this motorway was originally the M531.
Route
Starting at the northern end, the motorway starts in Wallasey at the exit slip roads from the Kingsway Tunnel from Liverpool. It loops round the north west of Birkenhead and then runs south as a dual 3-lane route between Upton, Woodchurch in the west and Prenton. From junctions 1 to 3 it runs parallel to the Borderlands railway line. It crosses this line south of junction 3. From this junction it proceeds south to the west of Bebington through junction 4 and then further south for 4 miles (6.4 km) (where it crosses the Wirral railway line), before narrowing to dual 2 lanes and turning sharply to the east. At junction 5, traffic for Wales can take the A41, A550 & A494 to join the A55 near Ewloe. The road passes north and then east of Hooton, then to the east of Overpool and Wolverham and with Ellesmere Port to the west.
