Motorway
M57 traffic and collisions
The M57 is a motorway of 11.2 miles, from Knowsley to Sefton. This page covers its traffic at 12 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 317m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 77,479 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 112,686 J3 to J4
- HGV share 7.7% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 +7.7% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 73 5.0 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the M57?
On an average day in 2025, 77,479 vehicles passed each point on the M57, counting both directions. The busiest section is J3 to J4 (Knowsley), with 112,686 a day; the quietest listed is J1, with 33,159.
Busiest sections, 2025
J3 to J4 carries 1.5 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| J3 to J4 Knowsley · 1.9 mi · HGVs 7.6% | 112,686 |
| M62 to J2 Knowsley · 2.0 mi · HGVs 8.4% | 97,990 |
| J2 to J3 Knowsley · 1.6 mi · HGVs 9.2% | 82,408 |
| J6 to A59 Knowsley, Sefton · 2.5 mi · HGVs 5.9% | 76,925 |
| J5 to J6 Knowsley · 1.0 mi · HGVs 9.2% | 69,527 |
| J1 Knowsley · 0.6 mi · HGVs 8.5% | 33,159 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Knowsley to Sefton · 11.2 miles
M57 traffic and collisions by section
8 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 3 short link roads and spurs (1.0 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | J1Knowsley | 33,159 | fewer than 3 |
| 2 | J1 to A5300Knowsley | 19,598 | 5 |
| 3 | M62 to J2Knowsley | 97,990 | 3 |
| 4 | J2 to J3Knowsley | 82,408 | 4 |
| 5 | J3 to J4Knowsley | 112,686 | 15 |
| 6 | J4 to J5Knowsley | 70,300 | 3 |
| 7 | J5 to J6Knowsley | 69,527 | 7 |
| 8 | J6 to A59Knowsley, Sefton | 76,925 | 24 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the M57 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.
M57 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 75.8% of the vehicle miles on the M57. HGVs account for 7.7%, rising to 9.2% on J2 to J3.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 13.2% |
| 2001 | 12.0% |
| 2002 | 11.4% |
| 2003 | 11.1% |
| 2004 | 11.0% |
| 2005 | 10.6% |
| 2006 | 10.3% |
| 2007 | 9.4% |
| 2008 | 8.9% |
| 2009 | 8.7% |
| 2010 | 9.7% |
| 2011 | 9.6% |
| 2012 | 9.6% |
| 2013 | 9.5% |
| 2014 | 9.5% |
| 2015 | 9.6% |
| 2016 | 9.1% |
| 2017 | 9.2% |
| 2018 | 8.9% |
| 2019 | 8.4% |
| 2020 | 10.4% |
| 2021 | 9.9% |
| 2022 | 8.7% |
| 2023 | 8.9% |
| 2024 | 8.3% |
| 2025 | 7.7% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
M57 traffic trend
Traffic on the M57 came to 317 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 7.7% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 28.5% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 86.2% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 166m |
| 2001 | 171m |
| 2002 | 179m |
| 2003 | 180m |
| 2004 | 190m |
| 2005 | 201m |
| 2006 | 207m |
| 2007 | 201m |
| 2008 | 203m |
| 2009 | 207m |
| 2010 | 210m |
| 2011 | 226m |
| 2012 | 231m |
| 2013 | 233m |
| 2014 | 236m |
| 2015 | 241m |
| 2016 | 253m |
| 2017 | 258m |
| 2018 | 266m |
| 2019 | 287m |
| 2020 | 244m |
| 2021 | 263m |
| 2022 | 297m |
| 2023 | 287m |
| 2024 | 302m |
| 2025 | 317m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 42,951 |
| 2001 | 44,124 |
| 2002 | 46,226 |
| 2003 | 46,409 |
| 2004 | 49,123 |
| 2005 | 51,931 |
| 2006 | 53,556 |
| 2007 | 51,847 |
| 2008 | 52,350 |
| 2009 | 53,371 |
| 2010 | 54,388 |
| 2011 | 58,330 |
| 2012 | 59,706 |
| 2013 | 60,096 |
| 2014 | 60,999 |
| 2015 | 62,248 |
| 2016 | 65,264 |
| 2017 | 66,651 |
| 2018 | 68,716 |
| 2019 | 74,247 |
| 2020 | 59,599 |
| 2021 | 64,362 |
| 2022 | 72,544 |
| 2023 | 70,090 |
| 2024 | 73,760 |
| 2025 | 77,479 |
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. In 2025, 5 of the 12 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
M57 collisions
Police recorded 73 collisions with the M57 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 15 of them fatal or serious. That is 5.0 per 100 million vehicle miles, close to the 4.9 for all motorways in Great Britain. On average there were 1.3 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Up 88.9% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Collisions |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 9 |
| 2022 | 15 |
| 2023 | 20 |
| 2024 | 12 |
| 2025 | 17 |
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 |
|---|---|
| J6 to A59 Knowsley, Sefton · 24 collisions | 7.5 |
| J3 to J4 Knowsley · 15 collisions | 4.3 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 20 collisions were recorded at junctions where the M57 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 M57
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Knowsley
- Sefton
Planned closures on the M57 in England
National Highways has 10 planned closures on the M57 between 16 September 2026 and 30 September 2026, 9 of them starting in that period. 4 close a carriageway rather than a lane or slip road, and 8 start between 7pm and 6am.
-
Carriageway M57 Northbound to A5036 link road closure
-
Lane or slip A5036 Eastbound Lane 3 closure from (Packet Steamer to A59)
-
Carriageway M62 Eastbound Jct 6 to 7 carriageway closure
-
Lane or slip M57 Southbound hardshoulder and lane 1 closure (MP 9/0 to 8/6)
-
Lane or slip A5036 Eastbound Lane 3 closure from (Packet Steamer to A59)
-
Carriageway M57 Northbound to A5036 link road closure
-
Lane or slip M57 Southbound Lane 3 closure (MP 11/4 to 10/7)
-
Carriageway M57 Northbound to A5036 link road closure
2 more planned closures in this period are not shown.
Planned closures only: National Highways can cancel or change them, and closures caused by incidents are not shown. Council roads in England are not covered. Roadworks and closures across the UK
Source:National Highways 2026-09-16 to 2026-09-30 Updated
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 | 12 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 73 reported collisions | 15 September 2026 |
| Planned closures | Transport Data Feeds (DATEX II) National Highways | 2026-09-16 to 2026-09-30 | 2,304 planned closure schemes | 16 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.
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