Brian Mountfield, spokesman for the Mere Residents' Association,dropped highways bosses a line to praise them for carrying out the six-week £2 million improvements to the road with the minimum of fuss and disruption.

The six weeks of work before Christmas involved overnight and weekend closures of this main route between the M6 and M56 and was completed on schedule.

With over 50,000 vehicles per day using the road widespread disruption had been anticipated, but after careful planning and liaison with local residents, the work passed off uneventfully.

Local Residents Association spokesperson Brian Mountfield who lives at Mere said in a letter to the Highways Agency: 'On behalf of Mere Residents' Association, I am writing to express my appreciation of the effective way in which the A556 at Mere was rebuilt by your contractors with great style, little real inconvenience to residents and within the stated time scale.

The road is now of excellent appearance.'

The work was carried out between the M6 at junction 19 and the traffic signals at Bucklow Hill and involved not only resurfacing, but making the road safer by the introduction of a 50 mph speed limit enforced by speed cameras and improved road markings.