Drivers thanked ahead of Denton Island improvement second phase
The Highways Agency is thanking drivers for their patience and support after it completed the first phase of a £5.3 million project to boost safety and reduce congestion at one of the busiest junctions along Greater Manchester’s M60.
The Agency is delivering the improvements at junction 24 of the M60 at Denton Island Roundabout where the motorway meets the M67 and the A57 local road – a key commuter route into Manchester city centre.
The first phase of the project - including providing more room on both exit slip roads onto the roundabout from the motorway and a dedicated left turn for drivers leaving the anti-clockwise M60 for the Manchester-bound A57 - started in November and opened to drivers earlier this month.
A second phase of the work, which is part of the Government’s £317 million ‘pinch point’ initiative is due to start in June and includes further remodelling of the roundabout as well as improved signs, road markings and traffic signals.
The remodelling includes improving the current arrangement where drivers on the westbound M67 and parallel A57 alternately join the roundabout controlled by traffic signals. The project should be completed by the end of November.
The second phase of the project will include frequent overnight closures of the M67 and adjacent A57 on the approaches to the roundabout as well as sections of the roundabout itself. Drivers will need to take clearly signed diversions away from the junction at times.
Full details of the project including roundabout and M67 and A57 closures – between 10pm and 5am on nights during which they occur – will be available at the scheme’s dedicated web page.
Devised with support from Tameside Council and representatives from the local community, the Denton Island scheme is the first to be delivered in Greater Manchester in the Government’s national 123 ‘pinch-point’ programme designed to help stimulate new development and local economic growth by improving road safety and tackling congestion bottle necks. In all, 28 projects, worth £66 million, are being delivered across the North West.
Alan Shepherd, the Highways Agency’s director for the North West, said:
This important pinch point project will improve safety and vehicle flows at one the busiest motorway junctions in the North West, delivering a boost to the local economy and people’s journeys. We are half way there and I would like to thank drivers for their patience and continued support as we work to complete the improvements.
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