A multi-million-pound relief road to ease congestion through Ashton town centre has opened to traffic.
The last section of the Ashton Northern Bypass was officially opened on Monday, the final piece of the council's highway strategy for the town which was first approved in the early 1990s.
The £15m link will run between Turner Lane and Crickets Lane North, alongside the railway line, and will remove all traffic – except for buses and cyclists – from Wellington Road and Penny Meadow. There will still be access to car parks and shops.
The bypass has been funded by Greater Manchester Transport Fund, although the design and construction was managed by Tameside council using a number of local firms. They include Stalybridge-based Garcia and Sykes Ltd which manufactured and installed some of the railings and panels along the side of the road.
Coun Peter Robinson, head of transport and development, said: "This new road should make a big difference to traffic flow through the northern side of the town centre, benefiting businesses, commuters, bus users, shoppers and pedestrians.
"It is also pleasing that so many local contractors and suppliers have been involved in carrying out the work and that the design and project delivery of this scheme was from our own internal engineering teams.
"It is a credit to their professionalism that we have delivered on time and under budget."
Resurfacing works will now be carried out at the junctions of Wellington Road/Turner Lane and Penny Meadow/Crickets Lane north. Diversions will be in place to minimise delays.
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Joy for motorists? Did you actually speak to any, or did the Council tell you to put that?
Trust me on this. As a motorist who has to travel into Ashton on business at least twice a day, there is no joy here. Just £15m spent moving a road 100 yards north.
Still, I suppose we'll have to wait and see. Much like with the Vibrant Cafe Society we were promised when the West End was 're-modelled' over a decade ago. You know, the bit with the car park and grey building on it?
£15 Million to go 0.6 miles.. bargain!
£15 Million to go 0.6 miles. Bargain!
Noticed they used those recycled plastic kerbs, what a load of rubbish, the big gaps between them wil soon see the footways deteriorate prematurely.
Big bottle neck at Welligton Road/ Turner Lane junction now
The Town Centre is now virtually inaccessible from the direction of Mossley.
The traffic jam this morning was half way to Mossley at 9am.
The one way part of Henrietta Street was changed in the middle of yesterday with no warning signs (good job I actually look both ways).
I'm still wondering if your journalists would like a dictionary to look up the definition of "Joy". Maybe the council are using it to look up "relief road".