Trunk A-road
A557 traffic and collisions
The A557 is a trunk A-road of 11.5 miles, from West Cheshire to Halton. This page covers its traffic at 11 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 79m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 18,736 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 44,707 M56 spur to A533
- HGV share 7.5% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 +10.1% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 70 17.0 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A557?
On an average day in 2025, 18,736 vehicles passed each point on the A557, counting both directions. The busiest section is M56 spur to A533 (Halton), with 44,707 a day; the quietest listed is A568 to A557, with 5,809.
Busiest sections, 2025
M56 spur to A533 carries 2.4 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| M56 spur to A533 Halton · 0.7 mi · HGVs 8.4% | 44,707 |
| At M56 spur Halton · 0.6 mi · HGVs 6.4% | 30,855 |
| A562 to A5080 Halton · 1.5 mi · HGVs 6.9% | 28,648 |
| A5080 to Council boundary Halton · 1.7 mi · HGVs 8.2% | 25,497 |
| A557 to A568 Halton · 0.9 mi · HGVs 6.6% | 13,260 |
| A56 to M56 spur West Cheshire, Halton · 0.5 mi · HGVs 1.6% | 12,860 |
| At A533 Halton · 3.2 mi · HGVs 12.0% | 7,444 |
| A568 to A557 Halton · 1.6 mi · HGVs 4.3% | 5,809 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
West Cheshire to Halton · 11.5 miles
A557 traffic and collisions by section
9 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 1 short link roads and spurs (0.4 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A56 to M56 spurWest Cheshire, Halton | 12,860 | 3 |
| 2 | At M56 spurHalton | 30,855 | 12 |
| 3 | M56 spur to A533Halton | 44,707 | 12 |
| 4 | At A533Halton | 7,444 | 9 |
| 5 | A568 to A557Halton | 5,809 | 0 |
| 6 | A557 to A568Halton | 13,260 | 0 |
| 7 | At A557Halton | 38,872 | 8 |
| 8 | A562 to A5080Halton | 28,648 | 13 |
| 9 | A5080 to Council boundaryHalton | 25,497 | 5 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A557 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.
A557 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 74.9% of the vehicle miles on the A557. HGVs account for 7.5%, rising to 12.0% on At A533.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 10.0% |
| 2001 | 9.4% |
| 2002 | 9.6% |
| 2003 | 9.9% |
| 2004 | 10.6% |
| 2005 | 10.3% |
| 2006 | 9.3% |
| 2007 | 9.7% |
| 2008 | 10.4% |
| 2009 | 9.1% |
| 2010 | 9.1% |
| 2011 | 9.0% |
| 2012 | 8.4% |
| 2013 | 9.3% |
| 2014 | 9.3% |
| 2015 | 9.2% |
| 2016 | 9.0% |
| 2017 | 9.6% |
| 2018 | 10.1% |
| 2019 | 10.1% |
| 2020 | 11.0% |
| 2021 | 10.7% |
| 2022 | 9.3% |
| 2023 | 7.9% |
| 2024 | 7.6% |
| 2025 | 7.5% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A557 traffic trend
Traffic on the A557 came to 78.6 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 10.1% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 1.2% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 22.9% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 96m |
| 2001 | 95m |
| 2002 | 104m |
| 2003 | 106m |
| 2004 | 102m |
| 2005 | 106m |
| 2006 | 104m |
| 2007 | 111m |
| 2008 | 98m |
| 2009 | 102m |
| 2010 | 98m |
| 2011 | 100m |
| 2012 | 99m |
| 2013 | 102m |
| 2014 | 108m |
| 2015 | 110m |
| 2016 | 112m |
| 2017 | 95m |
| 2018 | 93m |
| 2019 | 95m |
| 2020 | 77m |
| 2021 | 84m |
| 2022 | 99m |
| 2023 | 75m |
| 2024 | 76m |
| 2025 | 79m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 27,374 |
| 2001 | 27,198 |
| 2002 | 28,947 |
| 2003 | 29,684 |
| 2004 | 28,535 |
| 2005 | 29,625 |
| 2006 | 29,161 |
| 2007 | 31,051 |
| 2008 | 27,403 |
| 2009 | 28,449 |
| 2010 | 28,915 |
| 2011 | 29,472 |
| 2012 | 29,248 |
| 2013 | 30,074 |
| 2014 | 31,747 |
| 2015 | 32,388 |
| 2016 | 32,947 |
| 2017 | 28,063 |
| 2018 | 27,451 |
| 2019 | 28,095 |
| 2020 | 22,556 |
| 2021 | 24,964 |
| 2022 | 24,108 |
| 2023 | 18,149 |
| 2024 | 18,416 |
| 2025 | 18,736 |
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 (37.4% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 2 of the 11 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A557 collisions
Police recorded 70 collisions with the A557 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 18 of them fatal or serious. That is 17.0 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.2 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 37.5% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Collisions |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 |
| 2022 | 17 |
| 2023 | 18 |
| 2024 | 9 |
| 2025 | 10 |
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.
| Section | Per 100m vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| At M56 spur Halton · 12 collisions | 38.5 |
| M56 spur to A533 Halton · 12 collisions | 22.4 |
| A562 to A5080 Halton · 13 collisions | 21.0 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 25 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A557 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 88.6% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A557
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- West Cheshire
- Halton
Data sources and methodology
| 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 | 11 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 70 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.