All the local councillors, plus our MP, were invited to a meeting today about the plans to improve the Kingsway/Gatley Road junction.  Myself, Cllr Pam King and Mark Hunter MP were able to make it, along with representatives of Stockport Council and Manchester Urban Traffic Control.

We had a full discussion about the junction itself, plus some related issues including traffic on the South Park Road estate.

What I’ll do here is to first detail the plans for the junction, then go into more detail.

Three steps to improve the junction

1. Reduce the traffic light cycle time

The current cycle is variable, up to a maximum of three minutes.  This allows the maximum amount of traffic to go straight ahead in each phase, but means that only 3-4 vehicles from Gatley and Cheadle can turn right onto Kingsway.

The cycle is to be reduced so the maximum length is two minutes, not three.  That might not sound like a lot, but it means 50% more cars can turn right from Cheadle & Gatley (3-4 from each side every two minutes instead of every three).  The modelling that’s been done suggests that will make a bigger difference that we might think.   The planners believe it will lead to overall much shorter queues to turn right.

It should also make it slightly quicker for pedestrians to the cross the road (since there’ll be less time to wait for the next gap in the traffic).

Another benefit is that this is zero-cost.  There’s no roadworks or anything like that, it’s just a change in the computer system.

A small downside is that it slightly reduces the number of vehicles that can go straight ahead (as each phase change takes time) but the planners think that should be minimal.

This change will be made in the next few weeks.

 2. Improving flow from M60 slip road onto Kingsway

Traffic leaving the M60 to join the A34 Southbound currently gets squeezed down to one lane.  Years ago it was two lanes, but it was taken down to one after a nasty fatal accident.

We’re all keen to get this safely back up to two lanes and improve the movement of traffic onto Kingsway.

This is being looked at by the Highways Agency, along with others, and there are still quite a few questions, not least whether funding is available.

The general idea is to have two lanes from the slip road meeting Kingsway, and to have traffic lights on both Kingsway and the slip road so each one goes in turn.

3. Re-ordering the lanes on Kingsway northbound

This is another one still at the planning stage, although the idea’s been around for a while.

If you think of driving north along the A34 from Cheadle Royal towards Manchester, you’ve got three lanes as you come up the Gatley Road junction.  The left hand lane is for Gatley, the South Park Road estate, M60 westbound and M60 eastbound.  The other two lanes are for Manchester.  That results in far more traffic in the inside lane.

What we’d like is a more balanced approach to use the three lanes as effectively as possible.  That might, for example, mean the inside lane being for Gatley, South Park Road Estate and M60 westbound, the middle lane for M60 eastbound and the outside lane for Manchester.

That should result in traffic using the three lanes more evenly, meaning more vehicles getting through the junction in each phase.

One issue is cyclists going into Manchester.  We don’t want to push cyclists into the outside lane, which is dangerous for everyone.  I think there are ways round that with sensible signing and alternative routes, but it needs more work.

Background and why no right filters?

This is possibly the busiest junction in Greater Manchester, certainly one of the top few.  Were it being designed now, it would be wider and have right-turn phases (filters).  Ideally, for the volume of traffic, there would be a flyover for north-south traffic.

None of those are realistic at the moment, as you can imagine.

The planners modelled  putting in a right filter from Cheadle, or from Gatley, or both at the same time (something which you might have noticed both the Lib Dems and our political opponents have been keen on).

The modelling suggests  none of those options are viable without major alterations to the junction (the sort that would involve knocking down lots of houses!).

If you put in a right filter just from one side or the other, the other side jams up.  Put in a right filter from Cheadle and the queue on the Gatley side gets much longer, and vice versa.

So why not have a right filter from both at the same time, which is what I’ve been calling for?

The argument is  that it’s simply not safe to implement that on a junction of this size.  It would, we’re told, be too confusing for motorists and so too dangerous.   It would also lead to longer queues on Kingsway, and backing up onto the M60.

This is based on experiences with other junctions. Whilst I’m keen to have a filter if we can, I have to accept the findings of the experts and I certainly don’t want the junction to become more dangerous.

Conclusion

I’d like to thank the Council Officers and the people from Manchester Urban Traffic Control and the Highways Agency who are clearly taking this issue seriously and working hard to improve what may be Greater Manchester’s busiest junction.

We’ve got a solution that, the modelling suggests, will significantly improve things for people coming from Cheadle and Gatley and turning right.  If we’re really lucky, it will also help those going left and ahead from Gatley by reducing the pinch point on Gatley Road near Torkington Road.

Longer term, and subject to funding, we hope that the plans to improve the flow of traffic along Kingsway in both directions work out too.

So although we seem as far as ever from getting a right filter, we are making progress  and we will be seeing real changes which, we all hope, will improve the junction further.