Greater Manchester’s first smart motorway is up and running - but drivers should brace themselves for FIVE more years of works, overnight closures and 50mph speed limits.
Five more smart motorway projects are planned across the M60, M62, M56 and M6.
The smart motorway on the M60 between junctions 10 and 18 was finally fully-launched on Thursday, marking the end of a year’s delay for the £208m 17-mile project.
It means the whole of the motorway between junction 8 of the M60 at Sale and junction 20 of the M62 at Rochdale is fully operational - and there is no longer a full-time 50mph speed limit.
The huge project was delayed by nearly a year due to its ‘complexity’.
Copied from Manchester evening news . Nearly a year mmm more like 2 years plus.
Getting round manchester has been a nightmare while theyve been doin that ■■■■, I gave up in the end and go woodhead if am goin that way. looking forward to a couple of weeks of clear roads before they ■■ it up again.
Were based Trafford park. So up down it
A lot.
Apart from Rochdale end where there’s now 4 lanes. Can’t see what they have done to be honest. Apart from.install overhead signs and camera’s. Road layout etc doesn’t really seem any different
edd1974:
Were based Trafford park. So up down it
A lot.
Apart from Rochdale end where there’s now 4 lanes. Can’t see what they have done to be honest. Apart from.install overhead signs and camera’s. Road layout etc doesn’t really seem any different
It was nice driving over there on mon night and not having to divert through someones town centre. Must be quiet suddenly around salford. But if they just starting again i wonder how many more years of miserable driving we going to have to put up with.
As for what they done, err, replaced the signs with round coloured ones is about all i could see. Bit expensive for that.
As for costs, they say £200m but what about all the extra fuel used by night trunkers and damage to town roads used in the diversions.
edd1974:
The smart motorway on the M60 between junctions 10 and 18 was finally fully-launched on Thursday, marking the end of a year’s delay for the £208m 17-mile project.
.
Was still closed this morning LOL, pain in the arse really, im forced to either use j10 or 7 to get home on the m60(atm with tram works in TP pretty much locked down TP), and as soon as you hit the slip road on the m60 at j10 its 50mph till 9 even in the dead of the night.
I feel sorry for the ■■■■■ going towards j12 either direction during the day.
Tell me.about. I’m based near back end Trafford park road near the Merc and daf dealers. No matter which way go is night mare to get out. I go via Stratford and Kelloggs and stii a pain but least your moving along slowly.
Would.mind but all metro link is doing is goes to Trafford centre and corn brook.
.
I’m all for public transport etc. But I live wythenshawe they built it there. All.it does is go to Manchester city centre or the airport. Yet every other bus goes that way anyway so what’s the point really
edd1974:
The smart motorway on the M60 between junctions 10 and 18 was finally fully-launched on Thursday, marking the end of a year’s delay for the £208m 17-mile project.
.
Was still closed this morning LOL, pain in the arse really, im forced to either use j10 or 7 to get home on the m60(atm with tram works in TP pretty much locked down TP), and as soon as you hit the slip road on the m60 at j10 its 50mph till 9 even in the dead of the night.
I feel sorry for the [zb] going towards j12 either direction during the day.
Not that it should matter in a truck, but the speed camera northbound as you join Barton Bridge is definitely live. It was still dark when I came in yesterday morning and it lit up like a Xmas tree as a Transit van went whizzing past.
8-18, from the road users perspective it’s exactly the same as it was before the roadworks with the same traffic jams in the same places. The variable speed limits don’t really do anything.
Truth is, Manchester’s motorways are full to bursting with junction layouts that aren’t really fit for purpose anymore (Eccles interchange & sharston link the prime examples). There isn’t any room to expand anything & build new flyovers so we’re stuck with it.
Problem is to many junctions so close togther.
Never happen as cause to much chaos and take a lot of work.
But best way I feel to ease congestion. Instead of having 4 lane motorways. Make them 2 and 2
As In have 2 lanes of traffic spereated by a barrier that bypass the busy junctions pinch points. That way through traffic isn’t held up.
Have the other 2 lanes for traffic that wants to.come off at the junctions. Then once past the junctions all 4 lanes can never into a motorway again. Just an idea
edd1974:
Five more smart motorway projects are planned across the M60, M62, M56 and M6.
I reckon it’ll not be over until the entire motorway network in England and Wales is changed to smart motorways.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+1
with even smarter speed cameras.
i taxied a top cop years ago shortly after cameras came out and he told me the proposed plan was to eventually have 1 camera per 1 mile.
its getting there slowly but surely.
edd1974:
Five more smart motorway projects are planned across the M60, M62, M56 and M6.
I reckon it’ll not be over until the entire motorway network in England and Wales is changed to smart motorways.
What’s in it for the road user.We’ve already got single carriageway A and B roads being used as alternatives because motorways at best are just being used to move as much traffic as possible as slowly as possible.Usually over a longer less direct route and which at worse can come to an unavoidable standstill in the event of accidents or lane closures etc.Whereas using A or B roads at least provides the option of turning off or around and finding an alternative route.
Let alone the contradiction of extra lanes supposedly being there to both create extra road capacity often subject to ridiculous speed limits as part of that.But also still under the same rule of use lane 1 except when overtaking and anyone using the extra lanes provided is then caught in the catch 22 of either lane hogging or speeding.On the basis that you can’t use the extra lanes unless you’re overtaking and overtaking means exceeding the stupid speed limit with the inevitable penalty in the post to follow.
The whole thing is a bleedin joke with the sole intention of handing loads of public cash to road builders for pointless road upgrades and disincentivising the use of road travel by slowing down journey times and ripping off and criminalising road users and.
edd1974:
Problem is to many junctions so close togther.
Never happen as cause to much chaos and take a lot of work.
But best way I feel to ease congestion. Instead of having 4 lane motorways. Make them 2 and 2
As In have 2 lanes of traffic spereated by a barrier that bypass the busy junctions pinch points. That way through traffic isn’t held up.
Have the other 2 lanes for traffic that wants to.come off at the junctions. Then once past the junctions all 4 lanes can never into a motorway again. Just an idea
If memory serves me right. They bought all the properties near Jcn 17 on M60 in the eighties to build this, but backed out and then sold the houses for a loss.
I have sympathy for the council they can’t win.
They add extra lanes build more roads to ease congestion.
It does work then others realise roads arnt as busy anymore so they decide to drive to to work. Making congestion as bad as it was.
At least in London they have the tube and busses.
In Manchester we have the stupid metrolink. That runs on the roads and doesn’t really go anyware you want to get to.
Plus we have northern rail/fail which just adding more congestion on the roads
I’d only left the army when they were about finishing up the work works, around j5 till j9 adding those extra lanes for people coming off. so can’t say anything about the traffic for the older drivers that exprieneced that, but agree with other posts using this type of road system helps.
edd1974:
Problem is to many junctions so close togther.
Never happen as cause to much chaos and take a lot of work.
But best way I feel to ease congestion. Instead of having 4 lane motorways. Make them 2 and 2
As In have 2 lanes of traffic spereated by a barrier that bypass the busy junctions pinch points. That way through traffic isn’t held up.
Have the other 2 lanes for traffic that wants to.come off at the junctions. Then once past the junctions all 4 lanes can never into a motorway again. Just an idea
If memory serves me right. They bought all the properties near Jcn 17 on M60 in the eighties to build this, but backed out and then sold the houses for a loss.
I think the plan was for the M62 & M60 to run parallel as seperare motorways.
Could have been £208 million quid of the public coffers better spent in hindsight…
