The Highways Agency has revealed plans to convert the A556 to a dual carriageway - but swerving around the centre of Mere by building a new loop road cutting through countryside near historic Mere Hall.
It is being touted as the best solution to congestion on the A556 Chester Road, which drivers use to travel between junction 19 of the M6 and junction seven of the M56.
But green campaigners say the new road will create more traffic, and that the government should look at other road options as well as improving public transport for people travelling between Cheshire and Manchester.
The Highways Agency has come up with the scheme after the government rejected an expensive plan favoured by environmentalists to rebuild junction 20 of the M6 to allow drivers going northbound on the M6 to exit there for the M56.
At the moment the only option is to exit at junction 19 and use the A556.
The new scheme means an earlier plan to build a motorway between the M56 and M6 has also been shelved.
Transport Minister David Jamieson said: "The government is committed to improving the road network, tackling congestion and improving safety.
Package
"The A556 Route Management Strategy recommends a package of measures for improving this key route. I have asked the Highways Agency to carry out a more detailed assessment so that the proposals can be given further consideration."
But Lillian Burns from the Cheshire branch of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England said: "By providing a dual carriageway of this quality they just encourage more drivers to use the road and create congestion on other roads nearby.
"It takes traffic away from the centre of Mere but the route of the new loop seems like some very high quality agricultural land. Inevitably a road of this standard is going to impact on this very rolling landscape.
"By creating this loop you are extending pollution levels further and bringing a new impact on wildlife. We support looking at improvements to public transport and road solutions other than an over-engineered scheme like this."
A spokesman for the Highways Agency said the scheme was created in response to consultation with residents from Mere as the loop takes the road further away from homes next to the existing A556 and from Mere Golf and Country Club.
A cycle lane, access roads and improvements to junctions will be built into the scheme, scheduled to take a total of 15 years.
The spokesman added: "This is purely a proposal and the specific route of any loop road has not been determined. We will now carry out a more detailed assessment."
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These 'protesters' make me laugh - one minute they are saying that our historic villages are being shaken to bits by passing trucks, the next they're claiming that a bypass built to ease the problem will upset the ickle ducks.
Why don't they just say what they really want - a complete stop to all traffic (except their beloved bikes of course) and a return to the caves?
We've just had about a mile of cycle lanes put in at the insistance of the beardies on the council, and I can honestly say I've not seen a bike on it yet! This lot should wake up and realise that the car is the favoured mode of transport for most of us and stop bleating!