Switch Island is a road junction south of Maghull and near Aintree in Merseyside, United Kingdom on the Liverpool rural-urban fringe. The junction is at the western terminus of both the M57 and M58 motorways, which converge on the A59 trunk road, the north-south route from Liverpool. The junction is also the terminus of the A5036, a road which serves the Port of Liverpool. Maghull is a town in Sefton, Merseyside, England, within the traditional borders of Lancashire, and on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain. ... Aintree is a suburb of Liverpool, in the north-west of England. ... Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. ... The M57 motorway, also known as the Liverpool Outer Ring Road, is a motorway in England. ... The M58 motorway is a motorway in England. ... The A59 is a major road, in the United Kingdom running from Liverpool in Merseyside to York in Yorkshire. ... A63(T) trunk road A trunk road, trunk highway, or strategic road is a major road—usually connecting one or more cities, ports, airports, etc. ... For other uses, see Liverpool (disambiguation). ... The A5036 is a short, four mile section of road, travelling from Seaforth in Merseyside, England through Litherland before terminating at the Switch Island junction in Netherton. ... Garston Docks, Liverpool, 1962 The Port of Liverpool is the name for the enclosed dock system that runs from Herculaneum Dock to Seaforth Dock, on the east side of the River Mersey, combined with the facilities built around the Great Float on the west side of the river. ...

Original plans for the two motorways involved them merging at this junction and continuing west, while the A59 continued uninterrupted under (or over) the roundabout, with slip roads to and from the junction. These plans were never completed and instead all four roads converge at the same level on the single roundabout. The matter is made more complicated as the roundabout is bisected by the dual carriageway on the same level. To complicate matters, the through route of the dual carriageway is not the A59 south to the A59 north, but from the A5036 south to the A59 north. Effectively, this results in two motorways and the port road feeding onto the A59 through route at an incomplete roundabout. A roundabout or rotary is a type of road junction (or traffic calming device) at which traffic enters a stream around a central island after first yielding (giving way) to the circulating traffic. ...

The junction carries 80,000 vehicles a day, and improvements are a priority for England's Highways Agency. For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... The Highways Agency is an executive agency, part of the Department for Transport in the United Kingdom. ...

In September 2005, roadworks commenced for the improvement of the junction by the Highways Agency. These Roadworks were intended to last 7 months during which long delays were usual. The overall aim was to ensure the junction is able to withstand the predicted road traffic increase for the next decade. The roadworks were completed in Spring 2006, and has resulted in an entirely new layout for the junction. Only very few vehicles now have to enter the actual roundabout section, instead making use of the roads which pass through the centre of it. Even those who are required to enter the roundabout are not able to make a full revolution due to this new layout, with a short stretch of the roundabout now not in use. This western-most piece of road used to form part of the A59, leading vehicles north from Aintree towards Maghull, passing the entry slips for the M57 and M58. This section is no longer open to general traffic but is the site of an inspection area and weighbridge, operated by the Vehicle Inspectorate. Aintree is a suburb of Liverpool, in the north-west of England. ... Maghull is a town in Sefton, Merseyside, England, within the traditional borders of Lancashire, and on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain. ... Griffith Elder weighbridge in operation. ...

External links

• Highways Agency press release
• CBRD Bad Junctions - Switch Island

Coordinates: 53.4936° N 2.9527° W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...