The A34 enters Greater Manchester from Cheshire at the A555 junction. It continues northwards as a dual carriagway built in the mid-1990s along with the Wilmslow bypass. At the B5358 Wilmslow Road junction, it reverts to an older route called Kingsway.
The Northern section of Kingsway from Levenshulme to East Didsbury was built as a wide dual carriageway in the late 1920s, originally as the A5079. Kingsway was extended southwards in the 1950s, crossing the River Mersey and bypassing the town of Cheadle. The A34 number was previously applied to the Wilmslow Road route, but in 1967 this was applied to Kingsway.
Today Kingsway is one of Manchester's busiest non-motorway arterial routes, carrying around 80,000 vehicles per day on a typical weekday. Interesingly, by driving at the 40mph speed limit, it is often possible to get a "green wave" on this section of Kingsway between East Didsbury and Levenshulme - hitting every traffic light on green.
Kingsway meets the A560 at the Gatley Crossroads, and then shortly after has a complex interchange with the M60 and M56 motorways. North of the motorway junction, there is a traffic light junction with the A5145 and B5095, which were originally the A34 before Kingsway's construction.
The A34 continues into Manchester on Birchfield Road to the A6010 Manchester Middle Ring Road, and then Upper Brook Street into the City Centre. The A34 has a junction with the A57(M) Mancunian Way, however there is also a "ghost" sliproad, which was never completed and ends about 30 feet up in the air. Had it been completed, it would have led traffic the wrong way up a one-way street.
The A34 continues through Manchester City Centre, terminating just on the Salford side of the River Irwell, close to Salford Central station.