The study of British and Irish roads - their construction, numbering, history, mapping, past and future official roads proposals and general roads musings.
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I finally drove this road in the full length the other day. I was surprised by how busy it was at 1pm in the afternoon! The left hand lane was just a line of lorries (moving quickly). The right hand lane was empty to I pretty much did 75mph end to end (shhh thats speeding). The surface is very quiet also! And the footprint of the road is small, lanes a decent width but the concrete barrier saves a lot of space in the centre!
wrinkly wrote:The corridor has been looked at at different times both as a radial route into Manchester and as an orbital route to relieve the (present) M60.
Maybe I'm wrong about that. Maybe I was getting confused with the M62 Relief Motorway described on PM.
Yet I can't help thinking there was some revival of the idea of a N-S route passing west of Altrincham and Sale, but this time connecting an A556(M) type route with the M62, instead of the earlier idea of going through Stretford to central Manchester.
Dead as a dodo but there are now mutterings that with Port Salford and plans to development in Irlam that an M62 J11A will soon be needed. Logic would suggest extending such a route over the canal to meet the Carrington Spur at the very least, if not then going past the industrial areas down to Bowdon. Bit tricky to thread a road past Dunham though.
Bryn Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already. She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.
wrinkly wrote:The corridor has been looked at at different times both as a radial route into Manchester and as an orbital route to relieve the (present) M60.
Any info on that? I'm interested!
There is a current scheme exploring such an orbital route:
'The Outer Orbital Corridor package proposes a new orbital strategic corridor external to the existing M60 linking the M62 west of junction 12 to the M61 to join the M62 east of junction 18 together with an extension of the corridor from the M62 west of junction 12 in a southerly direction to the M56 at its junction with the A556 providing approximately half of a new orbital motorway around the city region as well as a new strategic link from the M6 in Cheshire to Yorkshire [emphasis added]'.
The Outer Orbital Corridor is one of three packages proposed by Highways England's recent Manchester North West Quadrant study. The Chancellor committed to the scheme in the Autumn statement and it has now entered formal development. Discussion here:
The minor roads leading off the roundabouts at each end of the bypassed road have still not yet been opened. There has been a change in layout at the roundabout giving access to the businesses at the Tabley end, meaning that you no longer have to double back round the other roundabout to reach them. Despite this, the Tabley filling station has now, not surprisingly closed.
The filling station at Bucklow Hill is still open, but has now started charging "normal" prices - 118.9p for unleaded today
“The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.” – Robert A. Heinlein
The DLS situation gets worse. As I was starting my journey home today after visiting the area, I glimpsed a new one out of the corner of my eye on the eastbound M56 spur, opposite the oldest one. I think it said
M56 SPUR
M
7.7
though it should surely be B (to be like most of the others) or A (as it's on the chainage increasing side and opposite one that says B).
Meanwhile on the side roads:
It's now possible to join the ex-A556 from Rostherne Lane and travel south to the new Millington/Bucklow roundabout. Both there and at other locations further south, new kerblines to narrow the road are in evidence in places.
I suspect they're deliberately keeping side roads closed as much as possible to prevent rat-running as long as the temporary signals are causing major delays on the ex-A556. For example, the bridge on Millington Lane over the new A556 is now closed. I suppose it could be just to lay the wearing course etc but I think it said it's for 6 weeks.
Many thanks, Jeni for that "London to Brighton in 4 minutes" viewing !
What I'm a bit cross about is that the works on the local roads seem to be taking, like, forever ! Almost all the resources of men and machines since the main A556 opened seem to have gone elsewhere leaving a couple of blokes with two shovels and an apprentice to complete what is a fairly major rebuilding of the old route and its junctions. I said as much on their project Facebook page the other day.
The ex-A556 is now open two-way between the new Bucklow Hill (or Millington) roundabout and the crossroads with Rostherne Lane and Millington Lane - but still one way southbound from the roundabout to Mere.
Two or three bits of closed side roads look as though they may open soon. I noticed new road markings continung under the temporary site fences at Cherry Tree Lane where it meets the ex-A556, and at Old Hall Lane. The new Tabley roundabout also looks ready to open properly. With the Cheshire Show coming up in late June and the Tatton flower show in late July they'll probably be wanting to make the local roads more usable.
I confirmed what I thought I noticed on my last visit: a DLS saying
M56 SPUR
M
7.7
in which the M should be B. There's also a DLS on the exit slip from the Northwich-bound M56 spur to the new Bowdon roundabout, saying
Had my first outing on the new A556 today, and took in the old road southbound too. It's not a bad road at all, and the tie-in to the M56 is inspired in its design. It flows beautifully into the motorway. It's a shame no similar inspiration stuck at the southern end.
The 60 limit feels a bit slow and, as the vehicle everyone overtook, I can confirm it's not being universally observed.
A lot was made earlier on this thread about the route picking its way very gingerly through an extremely affluent part of Cheshire and needing to avoid upsetting the neighbours. It certainly feels like that when you drive it - it's a full NSL expressway specification, for sure, but feels very hemmed in, with very compact junctions, retaining structures to avoid embankments, that sort of thing. It feels like it's scared of taking up too much space.
wrinkly wrote:There's also a DLS on the exit slip from the Northwich-bound M56 spur to the new Bowdon roundabout, saying
A556
J
something
where I would argue that A556 should be M56 SPUR.
This is precisely what I was going to say had you not beaten me to it!
It says it all that the DLS location design was done after I left that job and the signing works were passed back to civil engineers with zero traffic sign knowledge.
Likewise some of the odd sign placements like the identical exit gore sign at Millington that's rammed up against the overbridge weren't on my design.
Bryn Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already. She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.
Previously there was going to be a retaining wall along the east side of the ex-A556 southwards from the Cherry Tree Lane junction. It's in the Development Consent Order as made. It was apparently considered necessary to prevent any works encroaching on to field to the east, which is part of the land with lots of conservation designations around Rostherne Mere. However it doesn't seem to be happening so presumably they found a way to tweak the design to leave it out.
There is however (as previously noted) a length of concrete barrier between the new A556 and the ex-A556, similar to the one in the central reservation of the new A556.
Following the public consultation in summer 2016 for upgrading M6 Junction 19, please find enclosed details of our preferred route announcement. All materials and PRA information will be publicly available by week commencing 26 June 2017.
Over 75% of those who responded to the consultation supported Option A. Concerns were raised about how Option B would impact on nearby properties and amenities, so a further option, Option B amended, was produced.
The results of the public consultation have been considered in the selection of the preferred option, along with other factors such as value for money, safety and the ability of each option to meet the scheme’s objectives.
As such, we have chosen Option A for improving Junction 19 of the M6.
We will continue to engage with residents as the design for the scheme develops. Investigations and surveys will start shortly, and we expect to begin construction on the junction before March 2020.
