A MAJOR slip road in Widnes will be closed for five months from Tuesday, December 5.

The slip road onto Speke Road at Ditton Junction will be shut as works to build link roads to the new Mersey Gateway bridge begin.

Simon Matthews, senior operations manager with Merseylink, said: “Ditton roundabout is a very busy junction and we realise that this closure will have an impact on drivers.

“We’d encourage people to allow extra time for their journey in the area.

“We are scheduling the work in this area to try and minimise and streamline the closures to keep traffic moving as much as we can.”

Signed diversions will divert traffic onto Ditton Road to Hale Road and then back onto Speke Road.

The closure is due to last until April, 2015.

It is the first tranche of construction activity in this area and marks the start of a series of roadworks in and around Ditton Junction that will carry on for the next three years.

Once this on-slip re-opens in April 2015, the off-slip from Speke Road to Ditton Roundabout will be closed for approximately four months with a similar diversion in place.

When the new Mersey Gateway opens, the A562 Speke Road towards Liverpool will be redirected to take traffic directly to and from it.

There will be no toll barriers or booths so traffic will flow freely across the river.

When it opens in 2017, both the new bridge and the Silver Jubilee Bridge will be tolled, but they will be free to all Halton residents.

More details, including a map of the diversion route are available at merseygateway.co.uk/down-your-street/section-1-ditton-junction/.