‘Helix ramp’ is helping shape transport future
AHUGE, funky spiral ramp in Stockort is among the Greater Manchester transport plans bosses are pumping cash into.
They want to make cycling and walking across the region easier, safer - and a REAL alternative to getting behind the wheel.
A whopping £40m has been set aside for the next elements of a host of projects - made up of £23.7m from the government and £17m from our pots.
It could eventually mean we have the biggest cycling and walking ‘network’ in the UK.
A ‘helix ramp’ - 180m in length - will link a new rooftop park to the River Mersey and the TransPennine trail in Stockport.
It will be a striking feature of the ever-changing landscape of Stockport town centre, but bosses say it’s about more than that.
It will make it easier for people to get around including to the huge new bus station being built in the heart of the borough.
That £135m development is well underway as part of a mammoth, £1bn transformation of Stockport.
Work began in the summer of 2021, with the town’s old bus station - on the banks of the Mersey being demolished.
The overall aim, bosses say, is to ‘connect every community across Greater Manchester and make walking and cycling a real alternative to the car’.
Other plans to get cash from the latest Active Travel England (ATE) allocation include:
Stockport East to Romiley Bee Network route
Ladybrook Valley Phase 2
Heatons Link Phase 2, including new crossings
Walking and wheeling facilities at signal junctions programme
Cycle parking grant for public transport
Cycle parking grant for both schools and NHS sites
Mayor Mr Burnham said: “The scale of our ambition in transforming how people get around is huge - with a target for one million extra journeys being made on public transport or by bike or foot every day by 2040.
“To meet this challenge head-on we are delivering our transformational Bee Network, which will make travelling easier, cheaper and more accessible and connect our trams and buses and ultimately local train services.
“It is great news that all 10 of our boroughs will benefit from more than £40m being invested in active travel schemes across the -region.”
Cash has also been allocated for ‘improved active travel infrastructure’ in
Bolton town centre east; the Lord Street-Rock Street scheme in Oldham town centre; and three CYCLOPs junctions on Talbot Road in Trafford.