History
This motorway was originally two separate projects, the M53 and M531. The M53 was originally proposed to run from the Kingsway Tunnel to Backford. The M531 would have run from between the current junctions 4 & 5 and provided a connection with the M56 for eastbound travel.
When the M53 was first planned in the early 1960s, it was designed as a route to connect the two Mersey road tunnels with the A55 trunk road on the Welsh border, giving Liverpool and the rest of Merseyside a direct link with Chester and the towns on the North Wales coast.
In the event, the A55 link was never built and instead the M531 (by-passing the eastern side of Chester) was incorporated into the M53.
Read more about this topic: M53 Motorway
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