page_title: A59 road
section_title: Motorway proposals
hierarchical_section_title: A59 road / Motorway proposals
context_page_description: The A59 is a major road in England which is around 109 miles long and runs from Wallasey, Merseyside to York, North Yorkshire. The alignment formed part of the Trunk Roads Act 1936, being then designated as the A59. It is a key route connecting Merseyside at the M53 motorway to Yorkshire, passing through three counties and connecting to various major motorways. The road is a combination of historical routes combined with contemporary roads and a mixture of dual and single carriageway. Sections of the A59 in Yorkshire closely follow the routes of Roman roads, some dating back to the Middle Ages as salt roads, whilst much of the A59 in Merseyside follows Victorian routes which are largely unchanged to the present day.
  Numerous bypasses have been constructed throughout the 20th century, one of the earliest being the Maghull bypass in the early 1930s, particularly where traffic through towns was congested. Portions of the route through Lancashire were proposed to be upgraded to motorway standard during the mid-20th century, latterly being downgraded to significant improvements then ultimately withdrawn from consideration.
context_section_description: A bypass road for Ormskirk and Burscough respectively was first proposed as part of James Drake's 1949 Road Plan for Lancashire, described as an all-purpose road but later considered to be a potential motorway by 1958 and given the designation of A59(M). By 1963, Lancashire County Council had dropped the plans for a motorway of this nature, instead deciding to focus later efforts during the mid-1970s on proposing a scheme to improve the A59 link between Liverpool and Preston. This proposal was at the time considered to potentially become the M59 Motorway, with investigations into all practical options being considered, however the motorway was ultimately never constructed. A map published by Lancashire County Council and dated 1974 shows the suggested route of the motorway, starting at the missing M58 motorway junction 2 and continuing north-bound towards Blackpool along the alignment of the A59.
caption: Parts of the route could have become the A59 Motorway