M56

M56 Traffic on Thursdays

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

M56 on Thursdays: Thursday 22 October 2026, so far

How traffic on the M56 has moved hour by hour today so far, compared with the same day a week earlier (Thursday 15 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.

00:00 (midnight)

Westbound · slowest hour against usual

average 61 mph across the road, against a usual 60 mph; the same hour last week 64 mph.

Eastbound · slowest stretch

J6–J7 46 mph, against a usual 62 mph.

02:00 (2am)

Westbound · slowest stretch

J2–J3 42 mph, against a usual 57 mph.

Eastbound · slowest hour against usual

average 53 mph across the road, against a usual 58 mph; the same hour last week 60 mph.

Across the day

Westbound · against last week

about the same as last Thursday: average 61 mph over 3 hours, against 62 mph in the same hours.

Eastbound · stop-start

J14–J15 traffic below 15 mph somewhere on this stretch for about 10 minutes, between 00:00 (midnight) and 01:00 (1am).

Eastbound · against last week

slower than last Thursday: average 56 mph over 3 hours, against 59 mph in the same hours.

Westbound: average speed by hour

Eastbound: average speed by hour

Thursday 22 October 2026 (so far)Thursday 15 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 3 hours of Thursday 22 October 2026 and 3 of Thursday 15 October 2026. 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.