The A34 enters Cheshire from Staffordshire near the A50 crossroads at Church Lawton, near Kidsgrove in the south. It then heads in a northerly direction towards the town of Congleton, where it meets the A54, A534 and A536.
In Congleton the 1950s Clayton By-pass allows traffic to avoid the immediate town centre.
North of Congleton, the A34 meets the B5392 at a staggered crossroads, before passing the Capesthorne Hall estate. Just north of this, there is a signal controlled crossroads at Monk's Heath with the A537.
Until November 2010, the A34 would have continued North through the village of Alderley Edge, however a new single-carriageway bypass was built for Alderley. This joins to the end of the dual-carriageway Wilmslow bypass, which opened to traffic in the mid-1990s. The Wilmslow bypass has junctions with the A538 before reaching the A555 at the border with Greater Manchester.