M63 motorway

The M63 motorway was a major road in the United Kingdom. It was completely renumbered as part of the M60 motorway in 1999 which orbits part of Greater Manchester.

The earliest section of the M63 opened in 1960 as part of the M62 motorway. When the westward extension of the M62 in the direction of Liverpool opened, the existing section of motorway south of the Eccles Interchange was renumbered as the M63.

This was the first stretch of motorway to be built, opening as the M62. This section runs from the Worsley Interchange (what is now Junction 13 of the M60) as far as the junction with the A56 at Chester Road (now junction 7 of the M60). This section includes the Barton High Level Bridge, a bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal. The embankments for the bridge were the first physical step towards the construction of any motorway in the UK. With the extension of the M62 west to Liverpool, the section from the Eccles Interchange down to Stretford was redesignated M63.

The junctions were numbered in the opposite direction to the current M60 numbering, with M63 junction 1 being the Eccles Interchange, running to junction 7 at Chester Road. Originally there was no junction 6.

In 1986, work began on two major schemes on the route.

The first involved the construction of the A6144(M) motorway, and a new junction and parallel link roads for the M63. The new junction was numbered as junction 6 (now junction 8 of the M60). The new junction forced the closure of junction 5, which served Urmston and the B5213, due to the small gap between the two.

The second involved the widening of the motorway between the Eccles Interchange and junction 3 (now junction 9 of the M60), including the Barton motorway bridge, which was a major engineering feat.

This section of motorway was the third section of the motorway completed, opening as the M63 in September 1974, just 8 months after the section of the Sharston bypass opened. The route largely followed the lightly developed valley and flood planes of the River Mersey, so much of the motorway was on a raised embankment to be clear of potential floodwater. Some of the excavated land for the embankment allowed construction of Sale Water Park, which is adjacent to the motorway. The section of motorway ran from what was then junction 7 at Chester Road (A56) to the recently completed Kingsway Interchange with the A34, what was then junction 10 of the M63 (now junction 3/4 of the M60).

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