Year-long roadworks to begin this monday
A CONTROVERSIAL roadworks scheme on Great Ancoats Street is due to get underway on Monday with motorists warned to use alternative routes or expect delays.
The £9.1million project, expected to take around a year to complete, aims to ‘improve the look and feel of the area for pedestrians’ and provide a more natural link between the city centre and the burgeoning Ancoats and New Islington neighbourhoods.
It will involve installing new crossing facilities that the council says will reduce the risk of accidents on one of the busiest stretches of the Inner Ring Road. It currently averages
around 37,000 vehicles journeys per day. Along the route, the council intends to plant up to 70 trees including maple and honeysuckle that it is hoped will live for up to 100 years.
Along with decluttered, wider pavement and new signage, it is
hoped the finished look will be of a ‘European-style boulevard’ that is a natural extension of the city centre.
There has been criticism that the scheme removes existing cycling lanes without replacing them.
In response to criticism over cycling lanes, the council points to plans for two new walking and cycling routes that will run parallel to Great Ancoats Street.
It is argued that the routes - one between Victoria and Piccadilly train stations through the Northern Quarter, and the other from the Green Quarter to New Islington through Ancoats - are safer alternatives.
A public consultation on the £11m Northern Quarter cycling and walking route is already underway and open until mid-February.
Peter Boulton, Transport for Greater Manchester’s Head of Highways, said: “Without a doubt, the transformation of some of the city’s key routes provides a real opportunity to improve journeys for millions of people in the long run.”