Travel advice for city centre commuters ahead of this evening:
- Roadworks suspended or scaled back by Manchester City Council to reduce congestion
- Metrolink and TfGM staff on the ground monitoring transport networks
- Road users urged to plan ahead and allow extra time for journeys this evening
- Drivers urged not to block key junctions or do anything to put themselves or others at risk
- Football fans travelling to Old Trafford encouraged to use tram, train or P&R if possible
Commuters are being urged to plan ahead and allow extra time for their journeys ahead of this evening’s rush hour to avoid potential travel delays.
Yesterday’s evening peak saw city centre commuters faced with lengthy delays due to a combination of planned and emergency roadworks, bad weather and unforeseen events including signal failures and broken down vehicles.
This was further compounded by vehicles blocking key junctions, affecting movement across the city centre for buses, cars and tram services.
In response to this, a number of measures have been put in place by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and Manchester City Council (MCC) to help mitigate the impact of any further issues ahead of tonight’s Manchester United home game and the Conservative Party Conference, which starts this weekend.
A number of traffic hotspots have been identified following an urgent review by MCC and TfGM and some roadworks have been suspended or scaled back as a result to ease traffic flows, these include:
- Medlock Street: Civic Quarter Heat Network Gas main works have been scaled back to allow two lanes towards the roundabout from 2pm today – excavation works are being reviewed by MCC to reduce future impacts;
- Princess Street (outside Manchester Art Gallery): completed and road re-opened at 2pm today to enable buses routes to open this afternoon;
- Great Ancoats Street: no lane closures to be allowed until after the Conservative Party Conference;
- Whitworth Street: lane closure cleared by 3pm today; and
- No new city centre roadworks will be permitted (apart from emergencies) after 3pm each day until after evening peak.
However, some delays may still occur due to ongoing roadworks and restrictions which cannot be lifted, in addition, tonight sees Manchester United take on Rochdale at Old Trafford and the start of localised traffic management being put in place for the Conservative Party Conference.
TfGM’s control room will be monitoring the situation in real-time throughout the day and evening and signals will be adjusted, where possible, to reduce any delays and prioritise vehicles heading out of the city centre.
However, to ensure the best outcome, drivers are urged to remain patient, not block junctions or take any risks to get around slow moving traffic.
Metrolink will have staff on the ground across the city centre to monitor tram services and TfGM staff will also be out to ensure any delays to transport services are reported and managed as quickly as possible.
Despite these additional measures, drivers are urged to allow extra time for journeys, travel outside rush hour and avoid the city centre for cross-city car journeys if possible.
Any football fans travelling from Rochdale to Old Trafford should consider using Metrolink or rail services, or, if they are driving, use Park and Ride sites or the M60 and M602 to get to the ground.
Source: TfGM