A572 road

The A572 is a main road serving the Greater Manchester and Merseyside areas, running from Swinton to St Helens via Leigh and Newton-le-Willows.

Route

The A572 starts in Swinton at a dog-legged T-junction with the A6. The road then heads in a south-westerly direction, crossing the A580 at the Charlie Browns lights (there used to be a Charlie Browns garage on the corner). The road then heads in a general westerly curve into Worsley, apart from a rather sharp corner at the junction with Hazelhurst Road. For a brief time, the road leaves the urban environment and heads through the wooded edge of Worsley Golf Course, before heading into Worsley Village itself.

Here, the road meets with the M60 motorway at junction 13, where the A575 and B5211 also terminate. The road gains primary status – but only for the short section between the two roundabouts on either side of the motorway. The A572 heads straight under the M60, then makes a shallow climb through Worsley Woods towards Boothstown. This is the first section of road where the speed limit is increased, to 40 mph (64 km/h) – however up to about five years ago there was a National Speed Limit in force. As soon as you hit the edge of Boothstown, the limit drops back to 30 mph (48 km/h). Having passed through the centre of Boothstown, the road TOTSO's at the junction with the A577. Again there is a bit of a climb, often with cars parked down both sides and buses struggling to get through. Next is the Queens Roundabout, a rather angular hamburger roundabout, where the A580 East Lancashire Road dissects through the village.

After crossing the East Lancashire Road, the A572 continues to head west, now entering Wigan Borough (from Salford). Signs show Tyldesley too, however recent council ward boundaries have made this a little accurate. Its actually the former mining village of Astley, which is actually bigger in size than its neighbouring town. The road heads through an industrial area firstly, before entering the village itself. There are numerous busy junctions here, the first is Cross Hillock, which has two unclassified roads coming off it, both with right turn bans imposed (to cut the accident rate). Secondly is a roundabout for the A5082, which is meant to be the official route from the A572 up to the A577 at Tyldesley. However, this is a windy road, so most people use the unclassified Prince’s Avenue, which leads off at the next junction, a mini-roundabout which is found in the centre of the village (Blackmoor) – Prince’s Avenue goes in a straight line.

From there, the road takes a windy course heading up out of the village, past a very large high school. The road remains at 30 mph (48 km/h). The road now enters Leigh, here passing a cemetery and another large high school, before making a very tight left turn with a rather dangerous double mini-roundabout immediately after it. However, the road proceeds ahead, and curves round to the next set of lights at the junction with the A574 at Butts Bridge. Carrying on, the road proceeds past a large police station. The road heads onto the town centre bypass, where at both ends are primary green coloured road signs, despite this not being a primary route!. After about ¹⁄₄ mi (0.40 km) the bypass ends, and the road TOTSO’s again at the bus station traffic lights.

Here the road heads south, in a gentle snaking shape down to Lowton, crossing the A579 alongside Pennington Flash Country Park, and passing another high school. Shortly after, the road reaches the Lane Head junction in the middle of Lowton, where the A572 crosses the A580 for the third and final time. At this point the A572 gains primary status for ¹⁄₂ mi (0.80 km) (part of the A579 multiplex), and in this short section will cross through three sets of lights, the A580, the B5207 Golborne to Culcheth road, and the A579 T-junction. The road reverts back to normal A road status as it winds gently down towards Newton-le-Willows, with the speed limit increasing to 40 mph (64 km/h) as it heads into open countryside.

There is a staggered crossroads with the A573, the point where the road crosses out of Wigan Borough and into St Helens. Also, the West Coast Main Line crosses underneath just before the junction, and the M6 motorway passes overhead just afterwards. The road now reverts back to 30 mph (48 km/h) as the area becomes built-up once again. Once the road is in Newton village, it meets the A49 outside Newton Station.

At this point, there is a short multiplex about 1 mile (1.6 km) long, using the A49 heading north through the shopping area of the village. At a mini-roundabout, the designation returns to the A572, still heading westerly in a straight line over the top of Earlestown. The road then curves into a south westerly direction, heading into a rural section. Here the road becomes 40 mph (64 km/h) again, and passes the Warrington / St Helens boundary, before curving north westerly and heading into St Helens itself (back to 30 mph (48 km/h) after approximately 2 miles (3.2 km)). The road then meets an over-sized roundabout, where a couple of local roads head off to the south. The road snakes a little, winding its way through Parr, where it meets with 3 or 4 sets of traffic lights at local roads once again. It then meets with the A58 at a large T-junction set of traffic lights, where it meets its end.