A54 road

A54
A54 road near Buxton in Derbyshire
Route information
Maintained by Cheshire County Council
Length:	41.9 mi (67.4 km)
Major junctions
west end:	A51 road Tarvin 53°11′42″N 2°46′36″W / 53.19513°N 2.77679°W / 53.19513; -2.77679
	A556 road A49 road A5018 road A533 road A530 road J18 → M6 Motorway A50 road A534 road A34 road A50 road A527 road A523 road A537 road
east end:	A53 road Buxton 53°14′44″N 1°56′24″W / 53.24555°N 1.94012°W / 53.24555; -1.94012
Location
Primary destinations:	Congleton Winsford
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

The A54 road is a road in England linking Chester in Cheshire with Buxton in Derbyshire. Its route through both urban and steep rural areas presents a challenge to Cheshire County Council in maintaining the safety of the road.

Re-routing of the A54 away from the narrow cobbled streets of Congleton town centre was first proposed in 1935. Prior to this, at the point where the A34 now converges with the A54 an unusual 28 ft (8.5 m) lighthouse was erected in 1924 bearing the words "Dangerous hill - change to low gear", backlit at night, to reduce accidents at the sharp bend.

According to a 2007 report by the Road Safety Foundation for the European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP), the A54 is one of the most dangerous roads in the UK, second only to the A682 in Lancashire.

Again in 2008 the road was rated as one of the highest-risk roads in Great Britain by EuroRAP, with a risk rating of Medium to High on its most dangerous stretch between Buxton and Congleton. Eighteen fatal or serious-injury accidents occurred on this 24-kilometre (15 mi) stretch of single-carriageway road between 2003 and 2005, 26% of which were accidents at junctions.

The road begins at a roundabout on the A51 near Tarvin, 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Chester. It is a single carriageway for almost its entire length, travelling west-east. The first town is Winsford, where the road takes a short section of dual carriageway through the town centre; unusually the suburbs have been bypassed while the main road runs directly along the High Street. In Winsford it crosses the River Weaver on a large roundabout having two bridges over the river.