A huge, funky spiral ramp; 'Yellow Brick Road' improvements; and the next step in giving an iconic street a mammoth cycling makeover are among the Greater Manchester transport plans bosses are pumping cash into. They want to make cycling and walking across the region easier, safer - and a REAL alternative to getting behind the wheel.
A whopping £40m has been set aside for the next elements of a host of projects - made up of £23.7m from the government and £17m from our pots. It could eventually mean we have the biggest cycling and walking 'network' in the UK.
A 'helix ramp' - 180m in length - will link a new rooftop park to the River Mersey and the TransPennine trail in Stockport. It will be a striking feature of the ever-changing landscape of Stockport town centre, but bosses say it's about more than that.
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It will make it easier for people to get around - including to the huge new bus station being built in the heart of the borough. That £135m development is well underway as part of a mammoth, £1bn transformation of Stockport.
Work began in the summer of 2021, with the town's old bus station - on the banks of the Mersey - being demolished. The first phase of Salford's Chapel Street East scheme, between New Bailey Street and Blackfriars is also gathering pace.
The city's famous street is getting a huge cycling revamp.
The 'Yellow Brick Road', the nickname for the route along the former Stockport Branch Canal, will also benefit, as will mayor Andy Burnham's Bee Network. That huge project will see 1,000 miles of routes - including 75 miles of Dutch-style segregated - improved and built; as well as 1,400 safer road crossings and 25 'filtered' neighbourhoods.
The overall aim, bosses say, is to 'connect every community across Greater Manchester and make walking and cycling a real alternative to the car'.
Other plans to get cash from the latest Active Travel England (ATE) allocation include:
- A new active travel corridor along Chapel Street (Salford)
- Parkhills Road/Heywood Street signalised junctions (Bury)
- Radcliffe Metrolink Active access package (Bury)
- Stockport East to Romiley Bee Network route (Stockport)
- Ladybrook Valley Phase 2 (Stockport)
- Heatons Link Phase 2, including new crossings (Stockport)
- Manchester Cycleway - 'Yellow Brick Road' improvements (Manchester)
- Manchester Cycleway junction at Wilmslow Road in Fallowfield (Manchester)
- City Centre Bee Network: Islington (Manchester)
- Walking and wheeling facilities at signal junctions programme (region-wide)
- Cycle parking grant for public transport (region-wide)
- Cycle parking grant for schools and NHS sites (region-wide)
Mayor Mr Burnham said: "The scale of our ambition in transforming how people get around is huge - with a target for one million extra journeys being made on public transport or by bike or foot every day by 2040. To meet this challenge head-on we are delivering our transformational Bee Network, which will make travelling easier, cheaper and more accessible and connect our trams and buses and ultimately local train services.
"It is great news that all 10 of our boroughs will benefit from more than £40m being invested in active travel schemes across the -region."
Cash has also been allocated for 'improved active travel infrastructure' in Bolton town centre east; the Lord Street-Rock Street scheme in Oldham town centre; and three CYCLOPs junctions on Talbot Road in Trafford.
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