Warrington Road Closures: Brian Bevan Shuts 8 September

Brian Bevan Island is due to close completely from 7pm on Tuesday 8 September, and eleven roads across the south of the town close on Sunday 20 September for the Warrington Running Festival. The two are twelve days apart and share several roads, so here they are together, with the diversions.

Brian Bevan Island, one night, weather permitting

Warrington Borough Council said in an update on 2 September that its contractors plan to lay the specialist road markings on the roundabout at the A49 Wilderspool Causeway and A5060 Chester Road on Tuesday 8 September, weather permitting. If the forecast is poor the work will not go ahead and will be rescheduled.

The roundabout will be closed from 7pm. The resurfacing scheme it belongs to ran its overnight closures from 7pm to 1am.

The signed diversion is the one used for Phase 1 of the resurfacing:

• via Walton Road, Grappenhall Road, Ackers Road, Hunts Lane and Knutsford Road, and the same in reverse
• or via Slutchers Lane, Wilson Patten Street, Parker Street, Liverpool Road, Sankey Green roundabout and back, and the same in reverse

The council has permission to reopen the bus gate onto Slutchers Lane for access in and out of Centre Park while the roundabout is shut.

This is the last piece of a job that started in January. The resurfacing ran from 19 January for around six weeks. The long-life markings specified for the circulatory area could not be laid on a fresh surface and need dry, settled conditions, so temporary markings went down instead. On 27 July the council said the work was being programmed for a Tuesday evening in August. That did not happen, and 8 September is the first firm date since.

Sunday 20 September: eleven closures for the running festival

The Warrington Running Festival is a fully road-closed event. The organiser, RunThrough Events, has published the closure schedule for Sunday 20 September:

The first closure goes on at six in the morning and the last road reopens at one in the afternoon. The pattern is a town centre core around Sankey Street and Bridgefoot, then a loop south and east through Latchford, Grappenhall and Appleton.

Note that Knutsford Road is closed in each direction on different timings, and that Ackers Road, Knutsford Road and Grappenhall Road all appear on the Brian Bevan Island diversion route as well. The two dates do not collide, but anyone who has learned that diversion should not assume it works on the 20th.

The race is in its fifth year, is run in support of St Rocco’s Hospice and takes in a 5k, a 10k, a half marathon and a junior race from an event village in Bank Park. Start times are not published on the event site. The organiser’s FAQ page gives the prize giving as 10am for the 10k and 11am for the half marathon, and asks runners expecting to take more than three hours to make contact, because of the closures.

For getting there, the organiser tells drivers to park within about a mile of the Golden Gates and walk in, and points out that Warrington Bank Quay is a few minutes from the event village.

The council’s own roadworks page listed seven schemes on 4 September and the running festival was not among them, so the organiser’s page is the source to check for changes.

What is still shut on ordinary weeknights

A57 Sankey Green, the Pink Eye roundabout, north side. Running to 3 October, closures 7pm to 1am Monday to Friday. This is the one that matters for the hospital: Phase 1A shuts the access into Lovely Lane, Phase 1B shuts the exit from it along with Priestley Street and the exit to Sankey Way. A57 Sankey Way eastbound from Cromwell Avenue to Sankey Green roundabout is closed in both phases.

Bridgewater Avenue, Latchford. Running to 25 September, closed in three phases. The hours change with the school calendar: 8.30am to 5.30pm during the summer holidays, and 9am to 3pm plus 4.30pm to 6pm in term time. The council’s school term dates calendar shows Warrington schools open through September, so the term-time pattern is the one to plan around now. No weekend work. Phase 1 diverts via Kingsway South, Richmond Avenue, Whitley Avenue, Barrymore Avenue and Mort Avenue; Phase 2 via Worsley Avenue, Morris Avenue and Mort Avenue; Phase 3 has no diversion.

A56 Church Road, Lymm still appears on the council’s roadworks list, but its published window ran from 29 June to 22 August and has passed.

What it means for you

If you drive through Brian Bevan Island in the evening, Tuesday 8 September is the night to avoid, and the closure is weather-dependent, so check before you set off rather than after. Notice boards go up on site a few days beforehand.

If you live inside the running festival loop, the closure that bites longest is Sankey Street and Winmarleigh Street, shut for seven hours from six in the morning. Grappenhall, Appleton and Latchford residents get shorter windows but several of them overlap between 9.15am and 11am, which is the part of the morning when the through routes south of the swing bridges are effectively unavailable.

Our roadworks and travel page carries the standing picture, including the swing bridges over the Manchester Ship Canal and what happens when they open. For getting into town on the 20th without a car, parking in Warrington covers the car parks that stay outside the closure ring.

Sources

• Warrington Borough Council, Brian Bevan Island update 02/09/26
• Warrington Borough Council, roadworks and road closures, checked 4 September 2026
• Warrington Borough Council, A57 Sankey Green (Pink Eye) Roundabout North
• Warrington Borough Council, Bridgewater Avenue
• Warrington Running Festival, road closures and FAQs