M56

M56 Traffic on Fridays

How the M56 behaves on a typical Friday, from our own record of National Highways’ live speeds. Other days: Mondays · Tuesdays · Wednesdays · Thursdays · Saturdays · Sundays.

M56 on Fridays: Friday 16 October 2026

How traffic on the M56 has moved hour by hour, compared with the same day a week earlier (Friday 9 October 2026) and with National Highways’ usual speed for each hour. Updated every five minutes.

Speeds are colour-coded the same way as our live M56 speed flow map: 50 mph and over, 30 mph to 49 mph, under 30 mph. The colour shows the speed actually achieved; the usual speed is shown in bold beside it.

05:00 (5am)

Westbound · slowest stretch

J3–J4 24 mph, against a usual 60 mph.

11:00 (11am)

Eastbound · slowest hour against usual

average 56 mph across the road, against a usual 61 mph.

13:00 (1pm)

Westbound · slowest hour against usual

average 57 mph across the road, against a usual 62 mph.

14:00 (2pm)

Eastbound · slowest stretch

J2–J3 13 mph, against a usual 34 mph.

Across the day

Westbound · stop-start

J2–J3 traffic below 15 mph somewhere on this stretch for about 25 minutes, between 05:00 (5am) and 06:00 (6am).

Eastbound · stop-start

J2–J3 traffic below 15 mph somewhere on this stretch for about 25 minutes, between 14:00 (2pm) and 17:00 (5pm).

Westbound: average speed by hour

Eastbound: average speed by hour

Friday 16 October 2026usual speed (National Highways)

How we worked this out. We regularly take National Highways’ live speed data for each stretch of the M56 and keep the average for each hour. These figures cover 24 hours of Friday 16 October 2026 (we have no readings for Friday 9 October 2026, so there is no week-earlier line yet). Hours are UK time. A speed shown for the whole road is the average across its stretches, so a short queue may not move it much: the cards point to the slowest stretches.

© 2026 Corporate Ace Limited. The analysis, wording, charts and conclusions on this page are our own, produced from the live information we collect, including National Highways’ data. You may not copy, republish or reproduce them on any website, app, broadcast or publication without our prior written permission, which must set out how and where they will be used. To ask, please contact us. Powered by National Highways’ Transport Data Feeds.