A55 | ||||
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North Wales Expressway | ||||
Looking eastbound at junction 40 near Chester | ||||
Route information | ||||
Part of ![]() | ||||
Maintained by National Highways (England) North and Mid Wales Trunk Road Agent | ||||
Length | 87 mi (140 km) | |||
Existed | 1922–present | |||
History | Completed: 2001 | |||
Major junctions | ||||
West end | Holyhead | |||
![]() J9 → A487 road ![]() J11 → A5 road ![]() J19 → A470 road ![]() J33B → A494 road ![]() J34 → A494 road ![]() J38 → A483 road ![]() ![]() J39 → A41 road/A5115 road ![]() J40 → A51 road ![]() M53 motorway (J12) | ||||
East end | Chester | |||
Location | ||||
Country | United Kingdom | |||
Counties | Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Cheshire | |||
Primary destinations | Holyhead Bangor Conwy Chester | |||
Road network | ||||
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The A55, also known as the North Wales Expressway (Welsh: Gwibffordd Gogledd Cymru),[1] is a major road in Wales and England, connecting Cheshire and North Wales. The vast majority of its length from Chester to Holyhead is a dual carriageway primary route, with the exception of the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Strait and several short sections where there are gaps in between the two carriageways. All junctions are grade separated apart from a roundabout east of Penmaenmawr and another nearby in Llanfairfechan. Initially, the road ran from Chester to Bangor. In 2001, it was extended across Anglesey to the ferry port of Holyhead parallel to the A5. The road improvements have been part funded with European money, under the Trans-European Networks programme, as the route is designated part of Euroroute E22 (Holyhead – Leeds – Amsterdam – Hamburg – Malmö – Riga – Moscow – Perm – Ekaterinburg – Ishim).