After 50 years of campaigning, work on the Mottram Bypass is officially underway.
Jonathan Reynolds, MP for Stalybridge and Hyde announced on Sunday (November 24) that preliminary work to re-route utilities is in progress.
The National Highways compound off Hyde Road will fill up before Christmas, with additional ‘substantial’ units arriving throughout the road’s construction.
“The great news is: it’s finally happening!” read a statement from the Business Secretary.
“So many local people have waited for this moment. It is going to be one of the most significant developments in Tameside’s history and personally means a great deal to me.
“As construction begins, my focus will be working with the local councillors to ensure people are kept well informed and any problems or specific issues are resolved. They’ll be a regular quarterly newsletter from Highways England, and information about the different stages of construction and what it will mean for local traffic etc.
“There’s also been specific work on making sure things like the school buses will run smoothly.”
The £230m scheme, officially called the A57 Link Roads, is expected to ease congestion around Mottram.
The first new road will be the Mottram Moor Link Road: a dual carriageway continuing from the roundabout at junction 4 of the M67 to a new junction on the A57(T) further along Mottram Moor.
The other is the A57 Link Road, which will be a single carriageway from the A57(T) to a new junction at Woolley Bridge.
National Highways will close one lane of Hyde Road overnight from Tuesday to Friday this week while they create a new access point to their compound.
They will also close lanes at the Mottram roundabout from 8pm to 6am between Monday and Wednesday, before setting up temporary traffic lights around Woolley Bridge and by The Gun Inn on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
There will then be a full closure of the A57 from Tuesday 3 to Thursday 5 December between Back Moor and Stalybridge Road, although a full diversion will be in place.
Many residents hope that this will be stage one of a larger project to link Manchester to Sheffield, with people in Tintwistle and Hollingworth still expecting traffic difficulties despite the bypass.