Bolton

This article is about the town.
For the larger Highway Authority, see Bolton Council.

Bolton is a town in the Greater Manchester conurbation located within the traditional county of Lancashire.

Town centre schemes

1960s proposals for the town centre. Entrances to car parks are marked with P. Pedestrianised streets are shown solid grey.

Like many large towns and cities there were plans in the 1960s to redevelop the town centre and provide a modern road system. The plans called for an inner ring road with the north and east sides being grade separated. The south and west sides would primarily be at-grade.

By the early 1970s the proposals were altered so the junction of the A666 and A673 was simplified into a roundabout interchange. The A666 St Peters Way was already completed as far as St Georges Street by this time. The other changes from the 1960s was the junction of the A673 and the western side of the ring road became a trumpet. Another trumpet was planned for the southwest corner of the ring road.

These plans never came to fruition although the ring road was built in the 1980s to a lower standard.

Bolton Bypass

Bolton has a bypass to the north of the town. It is sometimes referred to as the Ring Road, although it is not a complete ring around the town.

Beaumont Road on the OS Popular map

The first section completed was Beaumont Road from A58 Wigan Road to A673 Chorley New Road. Heaton Bridge has a plaque showing 1924. The road may have opened later. Opened as B6402.

Crompton Way on the OS Popular map

Next came Crompton Way from A666 Blackburn Road to A58 Bury Road. Opened on 24 April 1928 by Sir Henry Maybury, Director General of Roads per the opening plaque. Cost was £230,000. Opened as an extension of A675.

The meandering bypass around the north of the town shown about 1946

The final section, which completed the bypass, was Moss Bank Way from B6402 Old Kiln Lane to Berkeley Road. The 2.5 mile road opened on 9 December 1938. Cost was £105,000. It completed the Bolton bypass but some stretches of existing unimproved road had to be used. At the west, Victoria Road and the recent Stapleton Avenue connected Beaumont Road to Moss Bank Way. At the north, a short stretch of Berkeley Road and then Cavendish Street connected Moss Bank Way to Crompton Way. No road number was shown on 1938 OS 6 inch map. The full bypass was later renumbered A58.

Highways Management

Highways within Bolton are designed and maintained in house by by Bolton Council. Design and maintenance of traffic signals and decisions relating to the Greater Manchester Key Route Network are made by Transport for Greater Manchester.

Trunk Roads within Bolton

The following roads that run through Bolton are Trunk Roads, and therefore managed by National Highways:

• M61

Classified Roads

The following is a list of classified roads that are at least partially within Bolton:

Route	To	Notes
M61	Preston	Accessed via A676
M61	Leeds, Liverpool (M62), Manchester M61 (M60)	Accessed via A666
A58	Bury
A58	Wigan (A577) (Leigh) (A579)
A666	Manchester, M60
A666	Blackburn
A673	M61 (North), Chorley,(A6027)
A676	Deane
A673	Horwich
A675	Belmont
A676	Ramsbottom	Tourist Sign - Firwood Fold
A6099	Smithills Hall Country Park	Tourist Sign
B6209	Little Lever
B6226	Doffcocker