Plans have been unveiled for a £50 million junction improvement project on the M6 motorway near Knutsford.

Highways England is planning to upgrade the roundabout at junction 19 of the motorway.

It's 'Option A' proposal, to develop a new bridge across the middle of the roundabout where the motorway meets the A556, has received the backing of Councillors, motorists and local people who participated in a consultation exercise last month.

While further work to refine the proposal is still to take place, it is estimated construction work could start in March 2019, or by March 2020 at the latest.

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The scheme will involve significant construction in the middle of the roundabout over the existing M6 motorway carriageways. This will provide dedicated link roads between the northbound M6 and the new northbound A556 Knutsford to Bowdon dual carriageway as well as the southbound M6 onto the southbound, local, A556 road towards Northwich.

Other highlights include:

• Wider lanes on the existing roundabout to increase capacity, including the bridges over the M6

• New traffic lights on the roundabout and its approach roads

• New traffic lights for the Tabley Hill Lane/Pickmere Lane junction

• Improvements to local access for walkers, cyclists and horse riders using the junction

Highways England project manager Irene Ofei said: "We are delighted to announce the scheme we are taking forward is the one which was the overwhelming choice of people taking part in last year's consultation. We feel this option will deliver most and lasting benefits in terms of improving journey reliability and safety and increasing capacity.

"The new link roads across the middle of the roundabout will take a lot of traffic away from other parts of the roundabout, reducing congestion for everyone."

(LM)