Tarbock Island: Warning on major Merseyside rush hour route as road closed for six months

The M57 Southbound exit slip road leads onto Tarbock Island in Huyton and is closed from May 27 until roadworks are scheduled to finish in December 2025. Although the finished project is predicted to ease congestion and improve traffic flow, Knowsley Council said the current situation means that motorists will experience some delays to their journeys.

Tarbock Island is one of the region’s busiest transport routes, connecting Knowsley to Liverpool city centre and serving as a main access point to the M62. Congestion issues have become common, leading to Liverpool ECHO readers voting Tarbock Island as one of the most disliked roundabouts in Merseyside.

The constructions works are part of Knowsley Council’s investment in its transport infrastructure after it secured £12.420m in funding to construct an active travel corridor along Wilson Road and upgrade the area around Junction 6 on the M62.

Knowsley Council said the work at Tarbock Island is part of a ‘significant investment programme’ to improve the flow of traffic and journey times at this busy junction and will reduce journey times by increasing the number of lanes as well as widening the roundabout.

In a Facebook post detailing the latest impact of roadworks on Tarbock Island, Knowsley Coucil said: “From Tuesday 27 May the M57 Southbound exit slip road will be closed (coming on to Tarbock Island from the direction of Prescot/Kirkby).

“The slip road closure will be in place to manage traffic congestion on Tarbock Island while works are carried out on the east side of the roundabout. This work will be ongoing until December 2025.

“The associated diversion involves continuing South along the M57 to the Knowsley Expressway (A5300) and returning via Tarbock Island.”

In response to the update, local residents and motorists who use the roundabout expressed their sense of frustration. Hannah Taylor-Murphy replied: “This is gonna be a nightmare for me” whilst Neil Beddows added: “Never seen so much chaos as the roundabout at Tarbock and also the one on high road.”

Nancy Miller commented: “The inconvenience that this work is causing is massive. I work in Manchester, I can’t get on the roundabout in the morning so I have to go to Bowring Park because the roundabout is so slow and then coming home, after my already 30 mile journey, I have to carry on and add another 4 miles.

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“I am happy if this will improve services but I’ve yet to see anyone actually working on it! No work happening at all. It’s crazy. Just get a big team on it and get it finished.”

Dave Nimmo wrote: “This just adds to more congestion for the traffic heading to Tarbock Island from the Knowsley Expressway which is already backed up every morning and even worse in the evening. Plus it brings new congestion to the roundabout at the end of the expressway.”

The local authority added that all possible steps are being taken to minimise disruption, but warned motorists to expect ‘some unavoidable delays to journeys’. A full timetable of works can be found below.

Current work:

• From December 9 2024: One lane closed on Windy Arbor Road (southbound) at its junction with Tarbock Island. Closure in place until approximately the end of May 2025.
• From January 27 2025: M62 Junction 6 Westbound exit slip will be completely closed (coming on to Tarbock Island from the direction of Manchester). This work will be completed early July 2025, but the closure will remain in place until December 2025 to facilitate the roundabout widening work on the east side of Tarbock roundabout. The associated diversion involves continuing on M62 towards Liverpool, exiting at Bowring Park (Junction 5) and returning on the M62 eastbound towards Tarbock Island.
• From February 1: A one lane closure on the M57 Junction 1, Southbound exit slip road (coming onto Tarbock Island from the direction of Prescot). This lane closure is anticipated to be in place until Monday 26 May.
• From February 1: Lane closures on Tarbock Island roundabout between the M57 Southbound exit slip road and Windy Arbour Road. These lane closures are anticipated to be in place until the end of December 2025.
• From May 27: M57 Southbound exit slip will be completely closed (coming on to Tarbock Island from the direction of Prescot/Kirkby) The slip road will be closed in order to manage congestion on Tarbock Island while works are carried out on the east side of the roundabout. This work will be ongoing until December 2025 The associated diversion involved continuing along the M57 to the Knowsley Expressway (A5300) and coming back via Tarbock Island. The M57 Junction 1 Southbound exit.
• From May 27 to June 6: Lane closures trial on the east side of Tarbock Island roundabout. Traffic is reduced to a single lane from the M57 Northbound entry slip to the Knowsley Expressway (A5300) Southbound entry slip.