Anyone who pops their head out the door can witness the total mess of Salford's transport networks – from the buses, to the roads, to the trains. The authorities are desperately trying to come up with solutions, and behind the scenes is the M60 North West Quadrant Study, trying to juggle "congestion and environmental problems" around Junctions 8 to 18.
This stretch of the M60 going through Salford is within the worst 10% of national motorway links in terms of journey time and reliability, and Transport for the North is looking at options to cut out long distance traffic from this bit of motorway via new links.
"Merging and diverging traffic from the motorways which feed into the M60 causes considerable congestion at intersections which lead to; journey time unreliability reflected by large variance in journey times; low average speeds throughout the day and week, sometimes falling below 15mph; vehicle delays; and a poor safety record" understates a Transport for the North report
"Air quality and noise issues impact upon the life of people who live adjacent to the road network" it adds "...Future development proposals in and around the study area will create additional residential, employment and distribution trips and will further impact the transportation network thus compounding existing problems."
The study reckons that over the next 25 years the population of Greater Manchester will swell to 1.6million, with another 200,000 homes and "an additional 800,000 trips to the transport network every day".
The new £300million 'smart motorway' technology' on the M60 was supposed to help ease congestion by converting the hard shoulder into an extra lane but didn't happen due to the impact it would have on air quality for people living close to the motorway.
Now, the report notes, some sections of the motorway see journey times taking four times longer than the 'minute per mile network', with speeds dropping below 15mph in peak periods and below 30mph during off-peak periods... "At speeds below 25mph, emissions start to increase rapidly as speed continues to decrease".
There are also forty 'Noise Important Areas' within the area. Add to this that the stretch is within "the top 20% of the worst performing in terms of total casualties per billion vehicle miles"...and you've got one hell of a gridlocked, unsafe, noise and air polluted mess. And it's only going to get worse.
The authorities, with the public excluded, were originally considering four packages with costs ranging from £5.3billion to £8.6billion, which appear to have been narrowed down to one – an 'Optimised In-Corridor Package' costing £5.4billion...
'Improvements could be largely within the existing corridor and firstly comprise junction improvements whilst more significant enhancements of new through capacity from the M62 west of junction 12 to the M61 and onto the M62 east of junction 18 is created'.
Since Highways England identified an Optimised In-Corridor package as 'the best performing package overall' last year it's all gone quiet.
Last week, Salford City Council's Growth and Prosperity Scrutiny Panel met for a 'Manchester North West Quadrant Study Update', with the public excluded because it contained "Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)"...
In Bolton, plans have been a tiny bit more open, with local MP Yasmin Qureshi holding a meeting in February with residents and Highways England 'in response to concerns raised by Kearsley residents'...
Currently the plans are at 'Stage 1' but, states Qureshi in her update, "eventually, they will end up with a list of options that are feasible and credible to take to public consultation in stage 2. They don't consult the public at stage one, because they don't want to cause them unnecessary anxiety about something which may not happen. They hope to have a list of credible options by the end of 2019 to take to public consultation in 2020.
"A few months, ago, as part of the Stage 1 investigations, Highways England wrote to some local residents to inform them that they would be carrying out environmental surveys on their land" she adds "However, upon receiving these letters, some residents became concerned that their land and homes might be compulsorily purchased and asked for further information."
The residents were actually given no more information as "no route or concrete plan has been decided upon yet". Indeed, the MP herself knew nothing about the proposals : "I learned of this only when I was contacted by concerned constituents, and I contacted Highways England immediately" she writes.
At the meeting, Highways England noted that "all options including tunnels would be considered during stage 1". At a stakeholders meeting in October last year, the Pros and Cons of Tunnelling were also considered (see photo).
This summer, the short list of schemes is being discussed behind closed doors by focus groups, working groups and one-to-ones, with options within the final option possibly disclosed to the public in October and put out to consultation next year.
Update: 4th July - apparently the Scrutiny panel voted in the end to let the public inside the meeting. Which raises questions as to why the Council felt the info was secret in the first place...
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