A555 Stockport news

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montyburns56
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Re: A555 Stockport news

Post by montyburns56 »

As someone who now avoids driving through Hazel Grove as a result of the bypass, has there been any studies as to how it has affected traffic flows in the vicinity? I know that it seems to have made the traffic worse on High Lane at times, but how about on other nearby roads?
fiveways
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Re: A555 Stockport news

Post by fiveways »

Difficult to say at the moment as both the A6 in Hazel Grove/Great Moor and the A5143 from HG to Bramhall are knee-deep in long-term roadworks, so road usage around here is nowhere near 'normal'. A better time to make a reasonably valid judgment with regard to local traffic around the A555 will be after the Poynton by-pass is completed.
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jackal
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Re: A555 Stockport news

Post by jackal »

It seems an attempt to resurrect the Hazel Grove bypass was shot down in April by Labour councillors, with Conservatives supporting the bypass and Lib Dems split but mostly in support.

Labour leader Elise Wilson said "Labour's plans for greener transport will get Stockport moving and get cars off the roads and ensure better air quality. ... Work has started on a new transport interchange in the town centre [and] this is the future of transport." I cynically, but as it turned out correctly, suspected this was a new name for the bus station. Garlic bread - it's the future.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-m ... r-60995509
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Helvellyn
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Re: A555 Stockport news

Post by Helvellyn »

montyburns56 wrote: Sat Sep 25, 2021 12:23 As someone who now avoids driving through Hazel Grove as a result of the bypass, has there been any studies as to how it has affected traffic flows in the vicinity? I know that it seems to have made the traffic worse on High Lane at times, but how about on other nearby roads?
I missed this at the time, and I see it's over a year late, so maybe of no use...

My personal experience (commuting that way) is that High Lane is atrocious now, queues almost to Disley aren't uncommon at the time I come through (9ish, so a bit past the peak too), but it's usually rather less jammed up in Hazel Grove itself than it used to be. I've only had sizeable jams in Hazel Grove since then when there have been roadworks or an accident. I couldn't tell whether changing the High Lane junction would just pile up the queue somewhere else, although there usually doesn't seem to be too bad a one at the lights in Disley itself (but there's probably less traffic there from the side roads, so the timings can give more to the A6).
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Barkstar
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Re: A555 Stockport news

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jackal wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 11:29 It seems an attempt to resurrect the Hazel Grove bypass was shot down in April by Labour councillors, with Conservatives supporting the bypass and Lib Dems split but mostly in support.

Labour leader Elise Wilson said "Labour's plans for greener transport will get Stockport moving and get cars off the roads and ensure better air quality. ... Work has started on a new transport interchange in the town centre [and] this is the future of transport." I cynically, but as it turned out correctly, suspected this was a new name for the bus station. Garlic bread - it's the future.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-m ... r-60995509
Yes after more than 50 years of plans a bypass of the A6 in Stockport has yet again been kicked into the long grass - this time because of a belief that a new bus station will remove the need for one :bang: :censored:
avtur
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Re: A555 Stockport news

Post by avtur »

jackal wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 11:29 It seems an attempt to resurrect the Hazel Grove bypass was shot down in April by Labour councillors, with Conservatives supporting the bypass and Lib Dems split but mostly in support.

Labour leader Elise Wilson said "Labour's plans for greener transport will get Stockport moving and get cars off the roads and ensure better air quality. ... Work has started on a new transport interchange in the town centre [and] this is the future of transport." I cynically, but as it turned out correctly, suspected this was a new name for the bus station. Garlic bread - it's the future.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-m ... r-60995509
I am intrigued by this idea of a "transport interchange" ... to my mind this would be a place where multiple different modes of transport come together ... in reality is this just nothing more than a glorified bus stop ???

Where is the facility to change from one mode of transport to another ???
fras
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Re: A555 Stockport news

Post by fras »

avtur wrote: Mon Jan 02, 2023 18:00
jackal wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 11:29 It seems an attempt to resurrect the Hazel Grove bypass was shot down in April by Labour councillors, with Conservatives supporting the bypass and Lib Dems split but mostly in support.

Labour leader Elise Wilson said "Labour's plans for greener transport will get Stockport moving and get cars off the roads and ensure better air quality. ... Work has started on a new transport interchange in the town centre [and] this is the future of transport." I cynically, but as it turned out correctly, suspected this was a new name for the bus station. Garlic bread - it's the future.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-m ... r-60995509
I am intrigued by this idea of a "transport interchange" ... to my mind this would be a place where multiple different modes of transport come together ... in reality is this just nothing more than a glorified bus stop ???

Where is the facility to change from one mode of transport to another ???
https://marketingstockport.co.uk/news/w ... wn-centre/
unrepentantfool
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Re: A555 Stockport news

Post by unrepentantfool »

avtur wrote: Mon Jan 02, 2023 18:00
jackal wrote: Tue Dec 06, 2022 11:29 It seems an attempt to resurrect the Hazel Grove bypass was shot down in April by Labour councillors, with Conservatives supporting the bypass and Lib Dems split but mostly in support.

Labour leader Elise Wilson said "Labour's plans for greener transport will get Stockport moving and get cars off the roads and ensure better air quality. ... Work has started on a new transport interchange in the town centre [and] this is the future of transport." I cynically, but as it turned out correctly, suspected this was a new name for the bus station. Garlic bread - it's the future.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-m ... r-60995509
I am intrigued by this idea of a "transport interchange" ... to my mind this would be a place where multiple different modes of transport come together ... in reality is this just nothing more than a glorified bus stop ???

Where is the facility to change from one mode of transport to another ???
I believe they're designing in provision for the tram from East Didsbury when it eventually arrives, heading in the direction of Offerton.
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Helvellyn
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Re: A555 Stockport news

Post by Helvellyn »

Barkstar wrote: Fri Dec 23, 2022 10:29 Yes after more than 50 years of plans a bypass of the A6 in Stockport has yet again been kicked into the long grass - this time because of a belief that a new bus station will remove the need for one :bang: :censored:
I really don't find the rush hour traffic in Hazel Grove that bad any more (unlike High Lane), although I don't go much further in than Hazel Grove so I can't say what it's like in Stockport.
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Barkstar
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Re: A555 Stockport news

Post by Barkstar »

avtur wrote: Mon Jan 02, 2023 18:00
I am intrigued by this idea of a "transport interchange" ... to my mind this would be a place where multiple different modes of transport come together ... in reality is this just nothing more than a glorified bus stop ???

Where is the facility to change from one mode of transport to another ???
There no getting away from the fact that though the railway station and the bus station are right next to each other in plan view the topography paints a different picture - with the buses under a 110ft high railway viaduct that that Stockport station is on the end of. There is already a footpath between the two and in years gone by a variety of Heath Robinsonesque solutions have been mooted but the latest scheme just makes the path meander a bit more to ease the gradient.

The original plan to get the trams to Stockport was an extension from East Didsbury. This would involve putting a bridge back over the Mersey to bring them into the bus station area. I'm not sure if that isn't dead now because an 'update' on local media a few years back was that they were looking at train tram into Stockport Station coming in via the under used line from Denton and linking in to the Ashton part of the system. All the basic plans for the Didsbury line extension were done and somewhere on the information superhighway will be the detailed proposals document. A quick look online suggests there's been a more recent look at that route with the aim for bringing in into the town centre via Edgeley instead of along the Mersey Valley following the route of the M60.
This route makes much more sense that train/tram route because the Denton scheme would likely involve trams crossing the viaduct and into the station, which is already very busy. And I'm not sure what sort of passenger demand there will be - you certainly wouldn't go by tram to get into the city centre when even a stopping train takes 20mins. It does rather smack of a desperation to utilise as much existing infrastructure regardless of what sort of solution that actually offers.
Last edited by Barkstar on Thu Jan 05, 2023 06:40, edited 1 time in total.
Peter Freeman
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Re: A555 Stockport news

Post by Peter Freeman »

Barkstar wrote: Fri Dec 23, 2022 10:29 Yes after more than 50 years of plans a bypass of the A6 in Stockport has yet again been kicked into the long grass - this time because of a belief that a new bus station will remove the need for one ...
Yes, it's sad that people in power believe such nonsense, and sad that the public are led to believe that road building/improvement and public transport provision are direct competitors. While mode shift can occur, and sometimes should be encouraged, commuters, transporters and other travellers make a sensible choice of mode for themselves. Roads and PT are both important.
matt-thepie
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Re: A555 Stockport news

Post by matt-thepie »

Peter Freeman wrote: Thu Jan 05, 2023 02:15
Barkstar wrote: Fri Dec 23, 2022 10:29 Yes after more than 50 years of plans a bypass of the A6 in Stockport has yet again been kicked into the long grass - this time because of a belief that a new bus station will remove the need for one ...
Yes, it's sad that people in power believe such nonsense, and sad that the public are led to believe that road building/improvement and public transport provision are direct competitors. While mode shift can occur, and sometimes should be encouraged, commuters, transporters and other travellers make a sensible choice of mode for themselves. Roads and PT are both important.
Mode shift needs to occur. That climate crisis thing isn't going away, and electric cars are not the solution to it.
Bessie
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Re: A555 Stockport news

Post by Bessie »

matt-thepie wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 01:24
Peter Freeman wrote: Thu Jan 05, 2023 02:15
Barkstar wrote: Fri Dec 23, 2022 10:29 Yes after more than 50 years of plans a bypass of the A6 in Stockport has yet again been kicked into the long grass - this time because of a belief that a new bus station will remove the need for one ...
Yes, it's sad that people in power believe such nonsense, and sad that the public are led to believe that road building/improvement and public transport provision are direct competitors. While mode shift can occur, and sometimes should be encouraged, commuters, transporters and other travellers make a sensible choice of mode for themselves. Roads and PT are both important.
Mode shift needs to occur. That climate crisis thing isn't going away, and electric cars are not the solution to it.
Private cars account for around 90 per cent of distance travelled and the picture is broadly similar across all developed countries. Even a big (proportionate) increase in other modes would make only a small dent. And no country has yet managed such a big increase. So if electric cars aren’t the solution it isn’t going to happen.
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Helvellyn
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Re: A555 Stockport news

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Bessie wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 07:39
matt-thepie wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 01:24
Peter Freeman wrote: Thu Jan 05, 2023 02:15 Yes, it's sad that people in power believe such nonsense, and sad that the public are led to believe that road building/improvement and public transport provision are direct competitors. While mode shift can occur, and sometimes should be encouraged, commuters, transporters and other travellers make a sensible choice of mode for themselves. Roads and PT are both important.
Mode shift needs to occur. That climate crisis thing isn't going away, and electric cars are not the solution to it.
Private cars account for around 90 per cent of distance travelled and the picture is broadly similar across all developed countries. Even a big (proportionate) increase in other modes would make only a small dent. And no country has yet managed such a big increase. So if electric cars aren’t the solution it isn’t going to happen.
Too many people and too much centralisation. Neither can be changed in a hurry.
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Barkstar
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Re: A555 Stockport news

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matt-thepie wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 01:24
Peter Freeman wrote: Thu Jan 05, 2023 02:15
Barkstar wrote: Fri Dec 23, 2022 10:29 Yes after more than 50 years of plans a bypass of the A6 in Stockport has yet again been kicked into the long grass - this time because of a belief that a new bus station will remove the need for one ...
Yes, it's sad that people in power believe such nonsense, and sad that the public are led to believe that road building/improvement and public transport provision are direct competitors. While mode shift can occur, and sometimes should be encouraged, commuters, transporters and other travellers make a sensible choice of mode for themselves. Roads and PT are both important.
Mode shift needs to occur. That climate crisis thing isn't going away, and electric cars are not the solution to it.
It does. My annoyance was more at the facile remark by the councillor in justifying not going a head with the link road that the rest of Stockport's trunk road system was designed to accommodate and which has been on the books for 50 years. There isn't going to be any sudden mode shift and by the time you could claim the link road was no longer needed the 'new' bus station will be long gone and so both will I (who lives next to the A6) and the councillor. Our new bus station will make getting a bus a nicer experience but how will that entice drivers out of their cars? It certainly won't reduce the considerable numbers of HGVs using the A6.
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Gav
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Re: A555 Stockport news

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Barkstar wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 10:49
matt-thepie wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 01:24
Peter Freeman wrote: Thu Jan 05, 2023 02:15 Yes, it's sad that people in power believe such nonsense, and sad that the public are led to believe that road building/improvement and public transport provision are direct competitors. While mode shift can occur, and sometimes should be encouraged, commuters, transporters and other travellers make a sensible choice of mode for themselves. Roads and PT are both important.
Mode shift needs to occur. That climate crisis thing isn't going away, and electric cars are not the solution to it.
It does. My annoyance was more at the facile remark by the councillor in justifying not going a head with the link road that the rest of Stockport's trunk road system was designed to accommodate and which has been on the books for 50 years. There isn't going to be any sudden mode shift and by the time you could claim the link road was no longer needed the 'new' bus station will be long gone and so both will I (who lives next to the A6) and the councillor. Our new bus station will make getting a bus a nicer experience but how will that entice drivers out of their cars? It certainly won't reduce the considerable numbers of HGVs using the A6.
HGVs will be reduced as we will have a cost of living increase that will mean we cant buy anything....
avtur
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Re: A555 Stockport news

Post by avtur »

Gav wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 12:35
Barkstar wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 10:49
matt-thepie wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 01:24
Mode shift needs to occur. That climate crisis thing isn't going away, and electric cars are not the solution to it.
It does. My annoyance was more at the facile remark by the councillor in justifying not going a head with the link road that the rest of Stockport's trunk road system was designed to accommodate and which has been on the books for 50 years. There isn't going to be any sudden mode shift and by the time you could claim the link road was no longer needed the 'new' bus station will be long gone and so both will I (who lives next to the A6) and the councillor. Our new bus station will make getting a bus a nicer experience but how will that entice drivers out of their cars? It certainly won't reduce the considerable numbers of HGVs using the A6.
HGVs will be reduced as we will have a cost of living increase that will mean we cant buy anything....
I understand your point but in reality I think it means we will end up with less Waitrose trucks on the road and more Iceland, Aldi and Lidl trucks :wink:
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Re: A555 Stockport news

Post by fras »

So as we popped in to Handforth Dean retail park today on the A34 with its 1000+ parking spaces, a large M&S, Tesco, and Next, and a huge residential "village" in prospect on the opposite side of the A34, I pondered on all the croakers who say we must all go around on bikes, (or walk), build nothing at all anywhere, or make anything at all, (apart from paper-work), and thought "what is your proposal for this sort of place, then ?"
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Helvellyn
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Re: A555 Stockport news

Post by Helvellyn »

fras wrote: Sun Jan 08, 2023 20:14 So as we popped in to Handforth Dean retail park today on the A34 with its 1000+ parking spaces, a large M&S, Tesco, and Next, and a huge residential "village" in prospect on the opposite side of the A34, I pondered on all the croakers who say we must all go around on bikes, (or walk), build nothing at all anywhere, or make anything at all, (apart from paper-work), and thought "what is your proposal for this sort of place, then ?"
What's your proposal to not need to keep building more and more obnoxious >?*&! everywhere?

I'm afraid I've got a lot more sympathy with people who want to built nothing at all anywhere, considering both the quantity we've already got and the fact that what usually gets built is terrible. More building == worse country to live in, unforgivable damage to it. The best that you can say is that we've made enough cockups that some's a necessary evil now, but to give the impression of wanting it...
Kinitawowi
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Re: A555 Stockport news

Post by Kinitawowi »

Helvellyn wrote: Mon Jan 09, 2023 10:19
fras wrote: Sun Jan 08, 2023 20:14 So as we popped in to Handforth Dean retail park today on the A34 with its 1000+ parking spaces, a large M&S, Tesco, and Next, and a huge residential "village" in prospect on the opposite side of the A34, I pondered on all the croakers who say we must all go around on bikes, (or walk), build nothing at all anywhere, or make anything at all, (apart from paper-work), and thought "what is your proposal for this sort of place, then ?"
What's your proposal to not need to keep building more and more obnoxious >?*&! everywhere?

I'm afraid I've got a lot more sympathy with people who want to built nothing at all anywhere, considering both the quantity we've already got and the fact that what usually gets built is terrible. More building == worse country to live in, unforgivable damage to it. The best that you can say is that we've made enough cockups that some's a necessary evil now, but to give the impression of wanting it...
My proposal would be to build things that aren't so obnoxious. "What usually gets built is terrible" is a reason to improve standards, not stop building. The reason first time house buyers can't get in the market is because all the 4-5 bed generic estates that are being built are out of their price range and what used to be the 2-3 bed starter homes aren't being built at all; and the few that there are are being hoovered up by landlords and rented out as HMOs. The UK population is growing by about 250K a year (Macrotrends), people who all need houses and schools and shops and doctors and other amenities. "Build nothing" is not a solution.
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