A-road
A579 traffic and collisions
The A579 is an A-road of 11.9 miles, from St. Helens to Bolton. This page covers its traffic at 15 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 79m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 18,110 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 23,769 A572 to A578
- HGV share 2.2% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 +5.9% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 148 38.2 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A579?
On an average day in 2025, 18,110 vehicles passed each point on the A579, counting both directions. The busiest section is A572 to A578 (Wigan), with 23,769 a day; the quietest listed is A577 to A6, with 13,324.
Busiest sections, 2025
A572 to A578 carries 1.3 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A572 to A578 Wigan · 1.1 mi · HGVs 2.4% | 23,769 |
| A572 to A580 Wigan · 0.8 mi · HGVs 3.2% | 23,183 |
| A673 to A58 Bolton · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.3% | 21,649 |
| A578 to A577 Wigan · 2.0 mi · HGVs 2.1% | 18,277 |
| A6 to A6145 Bolton · 0.7 mi · HGVs 1.4% | 17,235 |
| At M6 St. Helens, Warrington · 0.5 mi · HGVs 3.4% | 17,089 |
| M6 to A572 Warrington, Wigan · 1.5 mi · HGVs 3.4% | 17,089 |
| A6145 to A676 Bolton · 1.7 mi · HGVs 1.4% | 14,656 |
| A577 to A6 Wigan, Bolton · 2.0 mi · HGVs 1.4% | 13,324 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
St. Helens to Bolton · 11.9 miles
A579 traffic and collisions by section
12 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | At M6St. Helens, Warrington | 17,089 | fewer than 3 |
| 2 | M6 to A572Warrington, Wigan | 17,089 | 9 |
| 3 | A572 to A580Wigan | 23,183 | 4 |
| 4 | A572 to A578Wigan | 23,769 | fewer than 3 |
| 5 | A578 to A577Wigan | 18,277 | 25 |
| 6 | A577 to A6Wigan, Bolton | 13,324 | 15 |
| 7 | A6 to A6145Bolton | 17,235 | 8 |
| 8 | A6145 to A676Bolton | 14,656 | 41 |
| 9 | A676 to A575Bolton | 22,684 | 13 |
| 10 | A575/A579 to A579/A666Bolton | 31,880 | 8 |
| 11 | A666 to A673Bolton | 20,052 | 12 |
| 12 | A673 to A58Bolton | 21,649 | 9 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A579 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.
A579 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 81.9% of the vehicle miles on the A579. HGVs account for 2.2%, rising to 3.4% on At M6.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 3.9% |
| 2001 | 4.0% |
| 2002 | 3.7% |
| 2003 | 3.5% |
| 2004 | 3.9% |
| 2005 | 3.6% |
| 2006 | 3.8% |
| 2007 | 3.8% |
| 2008 | 3.8% |
| 2009 | 3.4% |
| 2010 | 3.4% |
| 2011 | 3.2% |
| 2012 | 3.1% |
| 2013 | 3.1% |
| 2014 | 2.9% |
| 2015 | 2.9% |
| 2016 | 3.1% |
| 2017 | 3.2% |
| 2018 | 3.3% |
| 2019 | 3.3% |
| 2020 | 2.7% |
| 2021 | 2.6% |
| 2022 | 2.4% |
| 2023 | 2.4% |
| 2024 | 2.4% |
| 2025 | 2.2% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A579 traffic trend
Traffic on the A579 came to 78.7 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 5.9% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 0.6% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is down 1.3% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 73m |
| 2001 | 72m |
| 2002 | 71m |
| 2003 | 70m |
| 2004 | 72m |
| 2005 | 73m |
| 2006 | 73m |
| 2007 | 70m |
| 2008 | 69m |
| 2009 | 69m |
| 2010 | 70m |
| 2011 | 71m |
| 2012 | 69m |
| 2013 | 69m |
| 2014 | 71m |
| 2015 | 73m |
| 2016 | 74m |
| 2017 | 72m |
| 2018 | 73m |
| 2019 | 73m |
| 2020 | 64m |
| 2021 | 73m |
| 2022 | 79m |
| 2023 | 80m |
| 2024 | 78m |
| 2025 | 79m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 17,423 |
| 2001 | 17,145 |
| 2002 | 17,011 |
| 2003 | 16,769 |
| 2004 | 17,097 |
| 2005 | 17,391 |
| 2006 | 17,312 |
| 2007 | 16,680 |
| 2008 | 16,427 |
| 2009 | 16,495 |
| 2010 | 16,570 |
| 2011 | 16,936 |
| 2012 | 16,507 |
| 2013 | 16,494 |
| 2014 | 16,943 |
| 2015 | 17,306 |
| 2016 | 17,219 |
| 2017 | 16,926 |
| 2018 | 16,570 |
| 2019 | 16,720 |
| 2020 | 14,673 |
| 2021 | 16,601 |
| 2022 | 17,931 |
| 2023 | 18,197 |
| 2024 | 17,852 |
| 2025 | 18,110 |
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 (86.6% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 4 of the 15 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A579 collisions
Police recorded 148 collisions with the A579 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 37 of them fatal or serious, including 3 fatal. That is 38.2 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 2.5 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 25.7% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 29 | 6 |
| 2022 | 28 | 4 |
| 2023 | 19 | 4 |
| 2024 | 24 | 8 |
| 2025 | 11 | 15 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A6145 to A676 Bolton · 41 collisions | 97.2 |
| A578 to A577 Wigan · 25 collisions | 34.8 |
| A577 to A6 Wigan, Bolton · 15 collisions | 31.8 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 27 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A579 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 A579
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- St. Helens
- Warrington
- Wigan
- Bolton
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 | 15 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 148 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.