Trunk A-road

A54 traffic and collisions

The A54 is a trunk A-road of 42.0 miles, from Derbyshire to West Cheshire. This page covers its traffic at 21 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
21 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 139m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 9,067 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 24,577 A527 to A34
  • HGV share 5.8% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 +3.4% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 184 28.8 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A54?

On an average day in 2025, 9,067 vehicles passed each point on the A54, counting both directions. The busiest section is A527 to A34 (East Cheshire), with 24,577 a day; the quietest listed is A537 to A523(T), with 1,576.

Busiest sections, 2025

A527 to A34 carries 2.7 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A54 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
A527 to A34 East Cheshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 2.6% 24,577
M6 to A533 West Cheshire · 1.9 mi · HGVs 12.2% 18,283
At A533 East Cheshire · 0.7 mi · HGVs 12.2% 18,283
A5018 to Foxfield Lane West Cheshire · 2.2 mi · HGVs 2.6% 16,708
A556 to A51 West Cheshire · 4.5 mi · HGVs 3.9% 15,441
A50 to M6 East Cheshire · 1.5 mi · HGVs 6.4% 15,051
Road One to A5018 West Cheshire · 1.4 mi · HGVs 2.3% 9,946
St John's Rd to A527 East Cheshire · 1.2 mi · HGVs 5.4% 9,224
Foxfield Lane to A49 West Cheshire · 3.4 mi · HGVs 7.7% 9,070
Holmes Chapel to Radnor (A54/A536 Roundabout) East Cheshire · 4.7 mi · HGVs 4.5% 8,383

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

Derbyshire to West Cheshire · 42.0 miles

Derbyshire West Cheshire
Schematic route: each line joins the junctions at the ends of a DfT count point link.

A54 traffic and collisions by section

20 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length.

Show all 20 sections Tap a column heading to sort
Sections of the A54 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1A53 to A537Derbyshire1.76,1435.9%+9.5%7
2A537 to A523(T)Derbyshire, East Cheshire9.01,5767.4%+27.3%1040.1
3St John's Rd, Congleton to A523East Cheshire3.26,1606.9%+14.0%7
4St John's Rd to A527East Cheshire1.29,2245.4%−5.3%8
5A527 to A34East Cheshire0.624,5772.6%+22.7%6
6Loach Brook Roundabout (A54/A536) to A34 West RoadEast Cheshire1.37,3232.1%3
7Holmes Chapel to Radnor (A54/A536 Roundabout)East Cheshire4.78,3834.5%9
8A50 to M6East Cheshire1.515,0516.4%+5.8%5
9M6 to A533West Cheshire1.918,28312.2%+15.1%1017.6
10At A533East Cheshire0.718,28312.2%+15.1%8
11A533 to A530East Cheshire0.416,1435.7%−5.2%3
12At A530East Cheshire0.414,9776.7%+1.1%fewer than 3
13A530 to A533West Cheshire0.214,9776.7%+1.1%fewer than 3
14A533 to Road OneWest Cheshire1.27,04811.1%−6.4%1387.3
15Road One to A5018West Cheshire1.49,9462.3%+3.6%1147.7
16A5018 to Foxfield LaneWest Cheshire2.216,7082.6%+38.2%2751.0
17Foxfield Lane to A49West Cheshire3.49,0707.7%−6.4%8
18A49 to B5152West Cheshire1.07,3165.2%−7.2%14108.9
19B5152 to A556West Cheshire1.56,2664.5%−6.2%7
20A556 to A51West Cheshire4.515,4413.9%−14.2%2318.9

Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A54 as the first road, placed on the nearest section by their recorded position; rates (per 100 million vehicle miles) are shown for sections of half a mile or more with 10 or more.

A54 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 77.4% of the vehicle miles on the A54. HGVs account for 5.8%, rising to 12.2% on M6 to A533.

Vehicle mix, 2025

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

HGV share of traffic

HGVs as a share of vehicle miles on the A54, by year
Year HGV share
2000 7.5%
2001 6.9%
2002 7.3%
2003 7.5%
2004 7.5%
2005 7.6%
2006 7.5%
2007 7.6%
2008 7.5%
2009 6.8%
2010 6.3%
2011 6.0%
2012 5.9%
2013 6.0%
2014 5.8%
2015 5.9%
2016 6.2%
2017 6.4%
2018 6.9%
2019 7.0%
2020 8.2%
2021 7.8%
2022 7.5%
2023 6.8%
2024 6.0%
2025 5.8%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A54 traffic trend

Traffic on the A54 came to 139 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 3.4% on 2019, before the pandemic, and about the same as in 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is down 2.9% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A54 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 137m
2001 137m
2002 137m
2003 137m
2004 132m
2005 134m
2006 141m
2007 137m
2008 145m
2009 144m
2010 131m
2011 132m
2012 131m
2013 129m
2014 132m
2015 135m
2016 134m
2017 134m
2018 133m
2019 133m
2020 100m
2021 113m
2022 122m
2023 129m
2024 137m
2025 139m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A54, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 9,015
2001 9,031
2002 9,040
2003 9,030
2004 8,702
2005 8,820
2006 9,285
2007 9,000
2008 9,541
2009 9,429
2010 8,594
2011 8,606
2012 8,558
2013 8,436
2014 8,654
2015 8,848
2016 8,762
2017 8,757
2018 8,641
2019 8,650
2020 6,522
2021 7,399
2022 7,962
2023 8,383
2024 8,942
2025 9,067

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

The chart counts the whole road as it was each year, so new or renumbered stretches move it. The percentage changes compare only count points present in both years (85.7% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 1 of the 21 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A54 collisions

Police recorded 184 collisions with the A54 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 66 of them fatal or serious. That is 28.8 per 100 million vehicle miles, close to the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 0.9 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Up 41.2% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A54 by year: fatal or serious, and slight
Year SlightFatal or serious
2021 2410
2022 2511
2023 1516
2024 1916
2025 3612

Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated

Sections with the highest collision rates

Per 100 million vehicle miles, 2021 to 2025. Sections of half a mile or more with 10 or more collisions.

Collisions per 100 million vehicle miles by section of the A54, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
A49 to B5152 West Cheshire · 14 collisions 108.9
A533 to Road One West Cheshire · 13 collisions 87.3
A5018 to Foxfield Lane West Cheshire · 27 collisions 51.0
Road One to A5018 West Cheshire · 11 collisions 47.7
A537 to A523(T) Derbyshire, East Cheshire · 10 collisions 40.1
A556 to A51 West Cheshire · 23 collisions 18.9
M6 to A533 West Cheshire · 10 collisions 17.6

Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated

A further 40 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A54 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. How we count collisions

Council areas on the A54

In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.

  • Derbyshire
  • East Cheshire
  • West Cheshire

Data sources and methodology

Datasets used on this page
Figures Source Period Records Updated
Traffic counts and vehicle mix Road traffic statistics (AADF by count point) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2000 to 2025 21 count points in 2025 15 September 2026
Reported collisions Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2021 to 2025 184 reported collisions 15 September 2026
  • Annual average daily flow (AADF) is the average number of vehicles passing a point on a typical day of the year, both directions combined.
  • Vehicle miles are AADF multiplied by link length and 365, summed over every count point link on the road.
  • Sections join count point links between junctions, using the link lines in DfT’s major road database.
  • STATS19 covers personal injury collisions reported to the police. Damage-only collisions are not included, and not every injury collision is reported.
  • Serious and slight figures are DfT’s adjusted estimates, which allow for police forces moving to injury-based reporting.
  • Counts of one or two collisions below Great Britain level are shown as “fewer than 3”.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.