M67 motorway

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M67 Motorway

Road of the United Kingdom
Length 5 miles (8 km)
Direction West - East
Start Denton
Primary destinations None
End Hattersley
Construction dates 1978 - 1981
Motorways joined 1 -
M60 motorway

The M67 is a five mile urban motorway in Greater Manchester, England which heads east from the M60 motorway passing through Denton and Hyde before ending near Mottram. It had originally conceived as the first part of a trans-Pennine motorway from the between Manchester and Sheffield connecting the A57(M) motorway to the M1 motorway. Plans for a £180m improvement to the route by bypassing Mottram and Tintwistle, the A57/A628 Mottram in Longdendale, Hollingworth and Tintwistle Bypass, and the 'Glossop spur' linking to the A57 road are currently at the public inquiry stage but, as of January 2008, are 'suspended indefinitely'.

Contents

[edit] Route

The M67 is a five mile urban motorway in Greater Manchester, England which heads east from the M60 motorway passing through Denton and Hyde before ending near Mottram. From the end of the motorway traffic can either follow the A628 road or the A57 road further east to the M1 motorway and Sheffield.

Before the motorway reaches its eastern terminal at Hattersley/Mottram roundabout (where traffic continues along the A57 into Longdendale), there are the stub 'ski ramps' where the motorway would have continued eastwards. [1] and also at the western end.[2]

[edit] History

In 1965 the Ministry of Transport asked Sir William Halcrow & Partners to report on a route selected by the County Surveyor of Cheshire and this led, in stages, to the development of the design to partial urban and partial rural motorway standards.[3] There was a public inquiry in 1967[4] The first section to be opened was the 'M67 Hyde bypass' which was constructed between 1975 and 1978[3] M67 Denton relief road to the west was constructed between 1978 and 1981.[3] These schemes are connected by a viaduct over the River Tame and Peak Forest Canal.

[edit] M67 Manchester to Sheffield Motorway

In 1967, at the time of the first public inquiry there were discussions regarding an extension of the motorway across the Peak District National Park[5] It was to provide a second motorway link across the Pennines to the south of the planned M62 and avoid the Snake and Woodhead passes, which are often closed in snowy weather.

The full proposed route, shown on this Google overlay map, was to start from Manchester City Centre at what was the A57(M) motorway eastern terminal roundabout (now a flyover for the A635, constructed in 1995), following the line of the A57 Hyde Road through the inner suburbs of Ardwick, Gorton and Debdale Park. Large-scale demolition took place along the line of the motorway (which is still evident today), tied in with the widening of the Belle Vue and Reddish Lane junctions.[6]

From there the intended route follows the present-day M67, skirting Hyde and Denton. Upon reaching Mottram, the route passed the village to the north (through a tunnel), then crossed Mottram Moor to skirt Hollingworth through the Etherow valley floor. The motorway would then have run around the side of Bottoms Reservoir to reach Hadfield, from which the trackbed of the Woodhead railway line (the former intercity route between Manchester and Sheffield, now closed) was to have been followed up the Longdendale valley to Woodhead. At Woodhead, the route would have diverged, with one carriageway entering the Woodhead Rail Tunnel (now disused) and the other rising on a sweeping viaduct to go over a realigned Woodhead Pass.[6]

Beyond the Pennine watershed, the motorway would have continued on a new alignment past the villages of Langsett and Midhopestones, before meeting the route of the current Stocksbridge Bypass.[6]

The Stocksbridge Bypass would have been constructed on its present alignment and continued directly onto the M1 at junction 35a[6]. This junction was built specifically as a junction with the M67 (and signposted thus).[citation needed]

Another part of the originally planned "M67" exists in South Yorkshire, as the A616 Stocksbridge bypass which opened in 1989. As there was no certainty that the whole M67 scheme would be completed by this time, the then Government decided that the scheme would not be built with motorway characteristics, but as a single carriageway with crawler lanes.

[edit] Proposed developments

[edit] A57/A628 Mottram in Longdendale, Hollingworth and Tintwistle Bypass

Main article: Longdendale Bypass

A road at the eastern end of the M67 passing to the north of the current A628 route past Mottram, Hollingworth and Tintwistle is currently at planning inquiry stage. It would be to be built as an at-grade. The public inquiry has been adjourned four times and as of January 2008 is 'adjourned indefinitely pending the publication of revised evidence by the Highways Agency and Tameside MBC'[7]

[edit] Accident record

There have been more than 26 deaths since the road opened. Numerous debates have taken place in parliament about possible improvements to the road, which led to the installation of SPECS speed cameras.[citation needed] A year went by without any deaths or major injuries. Then, two young brothers died in their mother's vehicle, followed by two bikers in a further incident.[citation needed]

[edit] Junctions

M67 Motorway
Eastbound exits Junction Westbound exits
Sheffield, Mottram, Glossop A57 (A628)
Hyde, Stockport A560		 Terminus Start of motorway
Hyde A57 J3 Hyde A57
No exit J2 Denton A57
Denton A6017 J1A No exit
Start of Motorway J1/
M60 J24		 Oldham, Rochdale
Stockport, Manchester Airport M60
City Centre A57

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Google maps aerial photography of the ski ramps at Mottram. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
  2. ^ Google Maps aerial photography - ski ramps at west end of M67. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
  3. ^ a b c M67 Hyde By-pass and Denton Relief Road. Motorway Archive. Retrieved on 2008-01-24.
  4. ^ WRITTEN ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS Thursday 5th August 1976 - M67 (Denton). Hansard Prototype (1976-08-05). Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
  5. ^ HOUSE OF COMMONS Wednesday 23rd June 1976 - M67 (Peak District National Park). Hansard Prototype (1976-06-24). Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
  6. ^ a b c d M67 Manchester to Sheffield Motorway. Pathetic Motorways. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
  7. ^ The Mottram/Tintwistle Bypass and Glossop Spur Public Inquiry. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.

[edit] External links

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