Under radical proposals drawn up by transport chiefs, a key half-mile stretch of Oxford Road will be closed to all non-emergency traffic to allow special lanes for new 'eco buses'.
The vehicles - a cross between a coach and a tram - will run in the middle of the road and ferry thousands of passengers on routes between Christie Hospital and Salford Crescent, and from Parrs Wood to Piccadilly.
The proposals - which will not become reality for at least five years and rely on the introduction of congestion charging - would eventually see Oxford Road closed to other general traffic from Hathersage Road near the Manchester Royal Infirmary to Grosvenor Street near the Aquatics Centre. Emergency and service vehicles would be exempt.
Special central lanes will be built for the new buses along the length of Oxford Road, although normal road space will be set aside for other vehicles on other sections of the route.
Oxford Road is currently one of Manchester's key commuter roads and officially the busiest bus route in Europe, with more than 100 buses an hour.
The plan is at the heart of proposals to transform the Oxford Road area and attract new business.
It will be extensively revamped with new lines of trees, multi-coloured lighting, and public art, as well as research facilities and thousands of new offices and flats.
And Oxford Road railway station would be transformed to act as a terminal for the buses, as well as a train station.
The city council estimates the new buses could shave as much as 15 minutes off the average journey from Didsbury into the city. If successful there could be plans for similar routes to Leigh and Bolton.
Dependant
The scheme is dependant on Greater Manchester winning its bid for £3bn from the government's Transport Innovation Fund (TIF).
The changes would be phased and cars excluded only after the new buses have been running for some time and proved a success.
Sir Howard Bernstein, council chief executive, said: "We believe there is a strong case for the introduction of a bus rapid transit system to Oxford Road, operating between Parrs Wood and Piccadilly and between Christie Hospital and Salford Crescent.
"It provides a high quality, high frequency, metro-style service consisting of articulated buses using low-emission technology.
"There is a need to remodel the existing Oxford Road Station site. This is the second most used station in the city centre and the current layout is outdated and offers poor access.
"It will be the key connection point to the proposed bus rapid transit scheme and is critical for so many of our initiatives, including the proposed development at Central Spine and the BBC site."
Framework
The plans are included in a development framework for the south of the city, which was revealed last night at the launch of the Manchester City South Partnership, at Whitworth Art Gallery.
The new agency aims to regenerate 600 acres surrounding the Oxford Road corridor and claims create 34,000 new jobs.
The new partnership consists of the council, Manchester University, Manchester Metropolitan University, the Central Manchester and Manchester Children's Hospitals NHS Trust and the North West Regional Development Agency.
At its launch, Sir Howard highlighted the £1.5bn investment programmes currently being undertaken by the universities and the health trust.
Other developments include Ask Development's 20-acre Central Spine site, which will provide three million sq ft of offices, flats and leisure facilities, as well as open squares, a 'green wall' on the former BT building and a new tree-lined street.
Scope
There is also scope for the redevelopment of the BBC building, the 20-acre Great Jackson Street site and the remodelling of the Little Island and Cornerhouse area.
Professor Alan Gilbert, president and vice chancellor of Manchester University, is chairman of the City South Partnership.
"What we are embarking on is one of the most ambitious and exciting development initiatives Manchester and the region as a whole has seen in a decade," he said.
"It will encompass the huge university and hospital investment programmes that are already underway, creating iconic institutions that will not only advance education, science and innovation, but also broadly enrich the culture, create jobs and enhance the economic and social well being of the communities we serve."
Sir Howard Bernstein, chief executive of the council, said: "It is clear that this part of the city has significant economic growth potential and it's our mission to unlock this.
"Although our core objective is to maximise the area's contribution to the city and regional economy, the strategic development framework will also address a range of issues including transport, environment, culture, retail, employment and linkage to surrounding communities, all of which are equally important for the sustainable future of the city.
"This is certainly going to be a challenge but one which we will embrace wholeheartedly with confidence and enthusiasm."
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Why wait - just ban everything bar buses now.
It will cost very little to block the streets of Oxford Street/Road. Just fine any driver £60 for transgressing.
Shame that the buinesses on the corridor cannot be seviced apart from some guy with a hand cart.
Why not just get wonderful town planners involved like the ones who have completely brought Denton to a standstill. First Morrisons and Crown Point North(which has its just before Xmas roadworks every year!) clogging up the town,then the wise souls who decided to put bus lanes near Sainsburys by the side of the M67 for no apparent reason. They would make Manchester a better place to commute to I'm sure!
When will this nonsense and delusional obsession stop?
Sell the airport if you want to be really green.
Ban cars altogether from the city as well. Just stop these gimmicks.
It was only a few years ago they did this in Eccles, in Manchester. Built a new bus station, put in a tram line and pedestrianised it. They stopped the traffic passing though and diverted it round a one way system.
Now, the market is virtually derelict, the bus stops empty, even the £1 shops closed down as they couldn't make a living.......
The place people now choose to shop at are Morrisons, as they have a car park and West One, an Eccles retail park. That's because they can drive there and park.
People are busy, have things to carry, fear for their safey and like the nice warm car they pay a fortune to drive.
Congestion charging and cutting people off making places hard to get to without a car is going to kill off Manchester.
If you charged people 50p, you might just get away with it, but no, greedy people end up with nothing.
People will just go shopping somewhere else.
Wake up and smell the coffee.
It all sounds great and i am all for the plans stated in the article, but why does the congestion charge have to come into it. Where is our money from government? It's all in London paying for the Olympics, Wembley, Railway Stations and countless other things. Give us some of our money.
Why wait five years. This is such an obvious improvement to make provided that there is also a significant cycle track put in at the same time. It has just been waiting to happen. You have to ask whether the car traffic could go now so that motorists have time to get used to the new plans.
Yet another reason the Con Charge MUST NOT be allowed to become a reality. This is really sensible, isn't it? Close one of the busiest roads and force traffic onto other already congested (council caused) routes. For example, the A6 in the evening is already at a standstill on the approach to Longsight. This is caused mainly by the bus lane and the constant 'playing' with the traffic signals but also because the local community believe that parking restrictions do not apply to them, as they clog the main road through Longsight while they do their shopping. And the restrictions are rarely enforced. Crackpot schemes like this are only going to make matters worse. Of course, it will give Trickie Dickie all the excuses he needs to hike up the charge due to the nasty old congestion! Remove the plethora of obstacles and restrictions from the roads, improve the rail and Metrolink network and the city can start to move again.
I Should Jolly well think so as well.
Why replace a system, other than making it a another money scam. Why not introduce a monorail system to run as well as the roads, that would make both sytems run more efficiently.
Drivers will be pay £5 or more AND be barred from driving on certain roads. What further proof is needed that this council is anti car, anti private transport. Will this ban still be in place in a decade when I'm driving my electric or hydrogen powered car? Probably, cars bad - buses good, the New Labour Mantra
I'm in favour of the green concept. I would love to see lots more trees and wildlife in the centre of town - it would be marvellous.
Money spent on schemes like this are much better than building casinos and a giant tent with cranes sticking out of the top. It's time to spend some money oop north, rather than this biased and selfish obsession of turning London into their own personal city to be proud of to show off to the world.
The infighting, lack of co-operation, guarding knowledge and wisdom to have the edge, and the desperation to get the top job always shows through when you look at the country as a whole and the mess it's in. CCTV would be useless with all these trees, the conjestion charge would turn sorrounding areas into car parks, leading to more conjestion, vehicle crime and muggings.
The government are on too much money.
Fantastic.Though the usual Clarkson's will moan about it..as they expect everyone to suffer from their emmisions,and clean up after them.
Another stupid project by Manchester city council,this will just put more pressure on the other roads, coming into the city centre,madness,lets just all hope for eveyone of Manchester that the congestion charge gets dropped.
looks great, c-charge asap
The article doesn't seem to mention students, cycling lanes or pedestrians.
Oxford Rd connects the University and Manchester Museum to the City Centre and should give priority to cyclists and pedestrians. Eco-buses are fine as long as they are electric battery or electric trolley buses with overhead lines. They are quiet and don't belch fumes into the street like diesel buses. If it has to be diesel then diesel hybrid buses WITH particle filter.
Planting trees along this route is also good, but I hope nice wide cycle lanes become part of the plan and not just an afterthought as usual.
eco buses LOL
Rather than making it depending on receiving the tif funding why don't they begin using the surplus from the parking that was highlighted in yesterday's news! - at least start it off - always an excuse why not to start these good ideas. What do we pay council tax for
Let me get this right, they are going to CHARGE road users to enter the city centre and then STOP them using this road?! Who thinks up these stupid ideas?!!!
Will there be lions roaming and weird zombie like things (aka Students) just like in Will Smiths film Legend?
Oh you have to laught at this lot don't you. They keep coming up with these schemes - no doubt 'advised' by troughing 'consultants'.
what cloud are these people living on?
While they are all being driven round in chauffeured cars the proles are expected to cram on to "eco" friendly peasant carriers.
This is the death knell for city centre shoppers.
How are we expected to struggle along with shopping buggies kids etc?
Office workers waiting for none existant buses looking at "art works" paid for with our money.
Stop it!Stop it right now.
Cue the "Who cares about public transport, I want to drive my car anywhere I want" rants from the MART fanboys (are you guys still seething about the Market Street pedestrianisation?).
"You're just engineering congestion!" Get on the bus lads/lasses! I've seen the future!
Not really pioneering!
In Valencia, they re-routed the river that used to run through the city. Then they created a huge park on the river bed that runs directly through the heart of the city from one end to the other.
It is superb!
The poor ickle motorist.
"The scheme is dependant on Greater Manchester winning its bid for £3bn from the government's Transport Innovation Fund (TIF)."
This is a lie. Edinburgh used a similar lie to try and get people to vote for their CONcharge, and people did not believe them. Now look at Edinburgh. Even without the CONcharge, their tram still get built, and cars are banned from Princes Street. Proof that the councils do not need CONcharge to build trams.