A57(M) motorway

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A57(M) Motorway

Road of the United Kingdom
Length 2 miles (3.2 km)
Direction East - West
Start Hulme
Primary destinations Manchester, UMIST
End Ardwick
Construction dates 1967 original motorway - 1992 additional slip roads
Motorways joined n/a
A view of the Mancunian Way elevated motorway near UMIST.
A view of the Mancunian Way elevated motorway near UMIST.

The A57(M), also known as the Mancunian Way, is a 2-mile (3.2-kilometre) long motorway in Manchester, England. It is part of the A57, which runs east-west through Greater Manchester, and links the M602 and M67 motorways.

Contents

[edit] Route

The road forms a major part of the Manchester-Salford Inner Ring Road and runs south of the city centre. Running eastbound, it starts as a 2 lane dual carrigeway and passes underneath the A56. Following this, the road widens to 3 lanes. At the next junction which leads to the A5103, the road reduces to 2 lanes and becomes an elevated highway. This section runs atop link roads and two roundabouts before reaching the next junction with the A34. At this point the road passes through the centre of the campuses of UMIST (now part of the University of Manchester) and Manchester Metropolitan University. It then runs for around 3/4 mile before reaching its junction with the A6 which it crosses on a bridge before dropping down to ground level. It then finishes on the A635 and continues east bound and also continues to be called the Mancunian Way.

[edit] History

It was opened in 1967 as the A57, only being upgraded to motorway in the 1970s[1]. At the time of its opening the Manchester Evening News referred to it as the "highway in the sky"[2].

In 1992 the westbound junction was rebuilt to replace a temporary flyover arrangement, whereby the A56 passed over a roundabout where the A57(M) ended. At the same time a new flyover was built over the A6.

[edit] Trivia

  • Just before the junction with the A34 is an unfinished slip road (stub) that ends in mid-air, although it is hidden from the road by an advertisng billboard. This was intended to be part of a dual carrigeway into the city centre,[3] but was abandoned when it was realised that the ramp would send traffic the wrong way down a one-way street.[citation needed]
  • The last half a mile of the Mancunian Way in the east is part of the A635, the A57 heading south east from the same junction as the A6, though it clearly states A57(M) on the signage as you enter westbound. However, Department for Transport documentation states differently [4].
  • The road is referenced in the BBC television drama Life On Mars. The central character, Sam Tyler, is knocked down by a car and "awakens" in 1973. The accident occurs by the Mancunian Way, and when he awakens, he does so on wasteland, with a nearby billboard advertising the planned "Highway in the Sky". Of course, the road was long completed by 1973.
  • The 2006 Take That album Beautiful World includes a track entitled Mancunian Way, which concerns the subject of Manchester generally.

[edit] Junctions

Ramp stub off the Mancunian Way at the junction with the A34
Ramp stub off the Mancunian Way at the junction with the A34
Note: motorway has no junction numbers
A57(M) Motorway
Eastbound exits Junction Westbound exits
Road continues as A635 to Ashton-under-Lyne & Oldham Manchester Picadilly, Stockport, Hyde A6
Sheffield (A57)
Manchester Picadilly, Stockport, Hyde A6
Sheffield (A57)		 Start of Motorway
UMIST, Wilmslow, Cheadle, A34 No Exit
No exit Didsbury, Birmingham, Manchester Airport, Chester, A5103
Didsbury, Birmingham, Manchester Airport, Chester A5103 No exit
Start of Motorway Stretford, Sale, Castlefield, G-Mex A56
Stretford, Sale, Castlefield, G-Mex A56 Road continues as A57 to Salford and M602

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Rural Roads Old Maps Page - This page shows a selection of maps that show the road as A class when opened and later on as a motorway.
  2. ^ Manchester Evening News, Manchester Online - Eyewitness in Manchester Newsletter
  3. ^ Manchester Evening News, Manchester Online - Eyewitness in Manchester Newsletter Photo & Description
  4. ^ Statutory Instrument 1995 No. 3266

[edit] External links

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