The massive motorway changes around Simister Island which would alter millions of journeys a year

A decision on a huge motorway upgrade which would transform the network around the notoriously congested Simister Island will be made within weeks.

A decision on a huge motorway upgrade which would transform the network around the notoriously congested Simister Island will be made within weeks.
The project, affecting the M60, M62 and M66 routes, would see a ‘northern loop’ built to create a new free flowing traffic section without the need for thousands of vehicles a day to use the current traffic light controlled roundabout.

A five lane section of the M60 on both sides between Prestwich and Simister (junctions 17 and 18) would be introduced. The M66 on the Bury side of the junction would be widened with new lanes introduced at the interchange and a second lane would be added from the M60 northbound to westbound
anti-clockwise free flow link.

Simister Island interchange is one of the busiest motorway junctions in the north-west, used by around 90,000 vehicles a day. National Highways said the junction struggles with much higher volumes of traffic above what it was designed for, and as a result suffers from congestion and poor journey time reliability.

The infrastructure project has been through a lengthy period of ‘public examination’ by the Planning Inspectorate, which ended on March 12.
The inspectorate said their recommendation report on the project will be submitted to the secretary of state no later than June 11.

Early estimates of project costs are between £207m and £340m and if the go ahead is given it would take around two years to build. During the public examination, many submissions were received opposing the plans, several of which cited environmental concerns.

National Highways have summarised their reasoning behind the proposals in planning documents saying the scheme was ‘great news for the local and regional economy’. They added: “The scheme will improve J18 of the M60 and facilitate the movement of traffic along the M60, M62 and M66 in the scheme area, contributing to more reliable and safer journeys through the junction.

“In order to facilitate the new arrangements at J18, the scheme provides additional capacity between J17-18 with the change to a dual five lane motorway with hard shoulder cross section. “This will provide additional benefits to those already delivered through the Manchester smart motorways scheme and reduce delays through the improved junction as well as on the M60.”

The ‘Northern Loop’ element of the plans is the stand out new section of infrastructure in the plans. The loop would provide a free-flow link from M60 eastbound to M60 southbound (clockwise), including a new bridge over the M66 and junction 18 slip roads.

The plans state there are no significant changes proposed to public transport routing due to the scheme. Highways England, said: “However, users on bus services that pass through M60 J18, in particular the current X43 service, will benefit from improved journey times.

“Minor positive impacts on bus journey times on local roads may also indirectly result from the scheme as traffic reassigns away from these routes.
“Furthermore, any other private coach services such as National Express will also benefit from improved journey times for services travelling through Simister Island.”

The main features of the proposal are:

• M60/M62 Mainline J17-J18 – upgrade existing smart motorway to five-lane each direction by using the existing hard shoulders
• M66/M60 Mainline – provide four lanes southbound through junction
• M60 Eastbound to M60 Southbound – provide a free flow link (Northern Loop)
• M66 Southbound diverge – provide a new two-lane diverge
• M60 Eastbound to M66 Northbound – realign the existing free flow link diverge
• M60 Northbound to M60 Westbound – upgrade the existing free flow link to two-lanes
• M62 Westbound to M60 Southbound – realign the existing free flow link
• J18 Circulatory carriageway – upgrade the existing circulatory to accommodate reduced movements
• J17 Eastbound merge – upgrade the existing eastbound merge to a lane gain

Among those opposed to the scheme are Transport Action Network.
In a submission published by the Planning Inspectorate, they said: “Rather than increasing capacity, National Highways should be seeking to reduce demand.

“Instead of dealing with the severe air and noise pollution already faced by local people, this scheme would make things worse for many local residents.
“National Highways have only ever proposed or examined variations of a road building proposal, never non-road building alternatives to reduce demand.”

Bury Council said that ‘it is considered the proposed development is much needed and would have a positive impact on the highway network of Bury’.
The council added that the development phase would have some impacts on the local road network in Bury they would be fully consulted on diversion
proposals and have the opportunity to consent to them.