Highways Agency

• 1 background to the project
• 2 project information
• Figures

1 background to the project

1 Background To The Project

Scheme Location

1.1 The location of the scheme is shown on Figure 1. The M60 Manchester Orbitalmotorway has recently been completed by the construction of the Denton to Middletonsection. The project road lies to the south west of the city centre.

1.2 The existing road comprises dual 3-lane motorway and dual 2-lane motorway withparallel link roads.

Scheme Development

1.3 The 1989 Government White Paper "Roads for Prosperity" announced an expandedmotorway and trunk road programme to relieve congestion on the major roadsbetween cities and towns in England. Among the many new schemes to enter theDepartment of Transport's programme was the widening of the M63 betweenJunctions 7 and 9. The M63 has been renamed M60 and junction numbering has beenchanged.

Figure 1 shows the connections to the local road network:

• A6144 (M) Carrington Spur at Junction 8
• A56 Chester Road at Junction 7
• A6144 at Junction 6
• A5103 (T) Princess Parkway at Junction 5

1.4 Parkman Consulting Engineers were appointed in October 1989 to prepare afeasibility report for widening this section of the M60 between Junctions 7 and 5 to adual 4-lane motorway. This report concluded that although it was technically possibleto widen to 4 lanes within the highway boundary, the benefit of the widening wouldnot be fully realised due to the reduction in standard which exists at either end of thelength of motorway under consideration. The study was expanded at this stage toincorporate Junction 8.

1.5 Following Technical Appraisal of the section of M60 between Junctions 8 and 5, aPublic Consultation was held in June 1992, on the proposed route. This involvedwidening the motorway, closing Junction 6 and major changes to Junction 7.

1.6 As a result of Public Consultation, the Department decided to keep Junction 6 openand reduce Junction 7 from a 3 level to a 2 level junction. A Preferred Route was thenannounced by the Secretary of State in December 1992 and draft Orders published in1994.

A Public Inquiry was held in 1995 following which work on the scheme wassuspended. In July 1998, the Secretary of State announced his decision to make the Orders and the scheme wasincluded in the Targeted Programme of Improvements with a target start date of 2003/4 financial year.

1.7 The length of the scheme is 7.4km. Between Junctions 6 and 8 the motorway will bedual 3-lane with parallel link roads. From Junction 6 to Junction 5 there will be a dual4-lane motorway. The form of widening has been decided by the need to:

• minimise the effects on residential property;
• minimise the effects on Sale Water Park, (Trafford Water Sports Centre);
• minimise delays to traffic during construction; and improve operational performance.

1.8 Although the widening of the motorway will require additional land, retaining wallswill be used in certain locations to minimise landtake. Extensive landscaping will becarried out to reduce the impacts of the widening scheme on the surrounding area. Theexisting bridges would be wholly or partly re-constructed. Junctions 5,6,7 and 8 willremain as 2-level junctions.

Existing Conditions

1.9 The length of the existing M60 now under consideration formed part of two early1960s and 1970s motorway construction programmes.

1.10 West of Junction 8 the motorway is dual 3-lane. Adjacent developments comprise theoccasional farm building, except to the north west of Junction 8 where buildingsforming the Manchester Inter-Equestrian Centre abut the motorway boundary.

1.11 East of Junction 8 the motorway is dual 2-lane with parallel link roads to Junction 7and continues in open aspect with the recently landscaped Lesley Road Tip site to thenorth and Sale sewage works to the south. The Mersey Overflow Channel is crossedby the M60 before the motorway commences to rise on embankment to cross the A56Chester Road at Junction 7.

1.12 From Junction 7 the motorway is dual 3-lane and continues on embankment in a southeasterly direction, passing over the River Mersey, Bridgewater Canal and theManchester - Altrincham Metrolink line; it skirts the southern edge of the Sale WaterPark(Trafford Water Sports Centre). The lake which forms the focal point of the sportscentre, was originally the "borrow pit" from which material was excavated toconstruct the M60. It was eventually allowed to fill with water and now forms thecentre for a number of leisure activities. It also acts as an essential flood relief basinfor the River Mersey.

To the south of the motorway the adjacent ground consists of low lying fieldsincluding a private landfill site and nature reserve until it reaches the residential areaof Sale at Junction 6.

To the west of Junction 6 there is a housing estate in close proximity to the motorway,the nearest road being Arnesby Avenue.

1.13 The motorway continues on embankment passing Sale Golf Course on the easternboundary and enters a shallow cutting immediately south of Junction 6. It continues ona south to east curve between the buildings of New Farm and Shevington Farm to theeast and residential properties of Sale to the west.

1.14 The motorway leaves the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford 1.5km south of Junction 6and enters the Local Authority district of Manchester City, with the playing fields ofManchester University to the north and residential estates of Northern Moor to thesouth.

1.15 The M60 emerges from the cutting at this point and proceeds on embankment towardsJunction 5 where it becomes dual 2-lane and crosses the A5103 (T) Princess Parkway,the main route to the M56 and Manchester International Airport. East of PrincessParkway the M60 continues on embankment in a south easterly direction skirting theNorthenden Golf Course to the north and the residential estates of Northenden to thesouth.

Existing Traffic

1.16 The M60 motorway and Princess Parkway (linking M60 to M56) are the most heavilytrafficked roads in the study area. The M60 carries 83,000 vehicles per day betweenJunctions 7 and 6, 79,000 vehicles per day between Junctions 6 and 5, and 73,000vehicles per day between Junctions 8 and 7. Princess Parkway carries 82,500 vehiclesper day.

1.17 Other busy roads in the study area are Princess Road, up to 59,500 vehicles per day,and A56 Chester Road, up to 42,300 vehicles per day. Both of these routes are feederroads to the M60 and major radial routes serving the Manchester City Centre.

1.18 Heavy goods vehicles form approximately 12 percent of the total traffic volumesbetween Junctions 7 and 8.

Road Safety

1.19 Generally, the local roads have much higher accident rates than the M60 Motorway.This is to be expected because most local roads have developed over many years, havemany historical constraints and have much greater numbers of conflicts, both betweenvehicles and between vehicles and pedestrians. Motorways, on the other hand, havebeen specifically designed with safety in mind for motorised vehicles and preclude useby pedestrians and cyclists.

1.20 This difference in accident rates is a very important aspect. As vehicle flows on themotorway continue to increase, congestion on the motorway will also increase and itwill become less attractive as a traffic route with the effect that local, less safe routeswould be more widely used.

1.21 In particular, the local roads parallel to the M60 have accident rates of between 1.17and 2.40 personal injury accidents per million vehicles kilometres. This compares withrates of up to 0.10 on the motorway. These would be the most vulnerable routes to anytransfer of traffic from the motorway as a result of lack of traffic capacity on the motorway. It is thereforeimportant, in road safety terms, to ensure that traffic continues to use the most appropriate and safest routes.

Objectives

1.22 This section of M60 Motorway is a bottleneck for traffic. Congestion and severequeuing occurs at the junctions during the extended peak periods. Safety hazards arefrequently caused by traffic queuing on the slip roads from Junction 7. The objectiveof the scheme is to relieve the congestion and to remove the conditions wherby safetyhazards arise.

1.23 The key environmental objective is to minimise the impact of the trunk road networkon both the natural and built environment.