Highway England (HE) has revealed that the new A556 dual carriageway in Cheshire, UK will be opened to the public on 6 March.

The highway agency has explained that the M56 junctions 7 and 8, M6 junction 19 and the existing A556 will all be closed on the weekend for the completion of works on the new £192m Knutsford to Bowdon dual carriageway.

Highways England project manager Paul Hampson said: “We made some excellent progress at the weekend and we won’t need another full weekend closure until next week, as scheduled.

"Everything is looking promising for the road to open a week on Monday.”

During the second weekend closure, HE will completely seal off the old road for through traffic as well as for the motorway junctions, as it will be tied into the new dual carriageway.

Motorway users will be diverted to alternative junctions to leave or join the M6 or M56. The agency will be strictly monitoring the local diversions.

HE further added that only the northbound exit slip at junction 19 of the M6 will be partially opened to the traffic, which would allow drivers to access the southbound, local authority section, of the A556 towards Northwich.

"We made some excellent progress at the weekend and we won’t need another full weekend closure until next week, as scheduled."

As part of the third and final weekend closure, HE will be closing the new road and the motorway junctions for varying out finishing works.

The third weekend closure will be effective from 9pm on 10 March until 5am on 13 March.

The construction work of the new A556 link road, between the M56 and the M6, began in November 2014, which was part of a £15bn government investment in motorways and major A roads by 2021.

Image: A motorway in the UK. Photo: courtesy of Crown copyright.