Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
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by Lib Dem team on 3 September, 2014
A few days ago Mark Hunter MP and the local Lib Dem team were knocking on doors around the South Park Road Estate – we didn’t quite get to everyone, but we made it to most.
This is to update you on some issues that were raised by residents.
Queues southbound from Parrs Wood and the M60 J3
We’ve all sat in the queues, with the Kingsway/Gatley Road junction being the major problem (built half a century ago and now trying to cope with massively more traffic than it was ever designed for).
The recent improvements on the slip road have made things a bit better coming off the motorway, especially if you’re going to Gatley where you no longer have to fight your way across 3 lanes of traffic upon joining the A34.
However, it hasn’t worked as well as the Highways Agency had hoped and we’re concerned that there are often long queues stretching back towards Parrs Wood, and longer queues in the Kingsway right hand lane to turn to Gatley.
The current view from the Highways Agency and Transport for Greater Manchester is that, whilst there may be some tinkering to be done to give us small improvements, it needs a proper study into traffic flows across the area. The key here is to look at whether there could be better places for traffic to leave and join the motorway which would reduce the amount of traffic trying to access J3.
Keep Clear box on the slip road by South Park Road estate exit
We continue to press the Highways Agency for a Keep Clear box on the J3 slip road where the South Park Road estate joins it. The idea is to make it easier for cars from the estate to pull out into stationary traffic when the lights are red.
The Highways Agency have now had the results back from their consultants. As we thought all along, the initial concerns that a Keep Clear box might cause longer queues are, they now think, unfounded. There’s no firm plan yet, but we’ve been told they will be looking to put a Keep Clear box on the slip road in the near future. We’ll continue to press for it.
Visibility of cars coming off the slip road onto the estate
A number of residents mentioned that cars leaving the slip road to come onto the estate can be almost invisible to cars coming off the estate – with a number of near misses and collisions as a result. The problem is grass growing high on the bank next to the junction.
We’ve asked council officers to look at solving this – most likely by taking out the grass and putting in tarmac or gravel instead so it doesn’t need maintenance.
19 Comments
Just a thought…
Down in Lundun, alongside several such main roads (A40, North Circular…), properties facing onto said roads have been demolished. In their place has come some green space – giving relief to both motorists and residents.
Oneself would never want to buy a property in their position – and certainly not at the ridiculous asking price of those along Kingsway.
One of the further issues affecting traffic flow are the cars which travel down the Gatley lane of the motorway slip, dodging past the queues on the inner two lanes. They then get into the Gatley lane of Kingsway and hold that traffic up until someone lets them back into the inner Kingsway lanes. I saw one tosser the other day who did that, eventually getting to the middle lane, where he again stopped until he could get into the nearside lane, then turned left towards Cheadle.
Last weekend I had the misfortune to get stuck on the M60 slip road onto the A34 south because they were cleaning the central reservation on the A34 – I was in it for 50 minutes!!! – no warnings on the M60 about queues. Absolute farce – that should have been done overnight
Iain haven’t we done a proper study already?? Several
Times! We KNOW what the problems are and they’re not being addressed.
No Mention here either of the long queues stretching back almost to the White Hart every day at peak times. People lives around here are a misery at certain times of the day and I think a lot of people would say the HA are less than competent.
This will get worse when semms is built and we could do worse than make sure it’s NOT connected to the A34 when it’s completed because traffic will get MUCH worse.
All comments at the top agreed with.Also the ones underneath from residents.
In response to John Hartley’s experience (2) – thats shocking! Some people are always prepared to act selfishly and disrespectfully to others. I’d have been so angry had I seen that! Just like some who do U turns at Gatley Rd/Torkington Ave, its clearly going to be something that will be copied by others and encouraging further road rage.
Just wait when the new airport relief road opens – the Gatley junction will get even worse!
stopped using Kingsway slip road on to A34 South now its just getting more ridiculous. Its easier for me to go onto Sharston now even in the day time! As Robert Taggart mentions and I have said it in the past and still say it there is only one way now Houses demolished, road widened or elevated, but will never happen in this country. We have too many bits of motorways all over and not being fully completed at the time eg Airport link why did they stop at Handforth ? A34 by pass stops other side of Alderley Edge and becomes country lane ? Should go on to M6 at least as a dual carriageway. And you can bet your life those houses will be built at Handforth with those at Woodford long before Airport link is finished. Classic examples not our area I know, M67 Hyde, Daft bit of A6 at Chapel Queue for ages either side of it then people charging to get where it narrows again. Some of these places wanted a major road or by-pass when I used to go out with my uncle Ronnie in his Scammel delivery wagon in 1950s early 60s.
Re inconsiderate and dangerous driving southbound A34 queue jumping and the same as the Kingsway cut-through. Do as is done in London, use static cameras to enforce Road Traffic Act and local byelaws. Cannot expect GMP to sit and observe. What about Borough Council run ‘Traffic Control Centres’ to monitor traffic flows and enforce inconsiderate and dangerous driving. The message will soon get through. Sadly, a necessary alternative given the unfortunate years of failed traffic mismanagement and planning by Councils and the Highways Agency whom are a law unto themselves with little regard to pressure police forces try and place upon delivering safer highways.
I didnt realise that all the issues regarding Gatley lights only affected the residents on South Park Road estate.
Maybe you guys could venture a little further and possibly canvas the views of other people who live in Gatley.
Study after study after more studies of the same problems regarding Gatley lights and still nothing done, how you guys got voted back in i will never know, your really good at promising so much but delivering very little!
I didn’t realise that either – must have missed it all the times we’ve spoken to residents right across the area about it and reported back! I also didn’t realise we’d make promises we’ve not delivered on – please can you say where. In fact, we’ve never made claims we couldn’t keep on this or any other issue, and we’ve never pretended there was a simple solution.
Study after study shows that Gatley lights is a difficult problem to fix: the junction has far more traffic than it was ever designed for and we know that any of the simple changes we can make (e.g. right filters, changing the light timing) will often cause more problems than they solve.
We should be getting one improvement soon (one that we’ve reported back on before) – moving the lines where you wait to turn right across slightly to give better visibility of oncoming traffic. That will make it easier and safer for cars turning right to take advantage of gaps in the traffic.
We’re also working with TfGM, the Highways Agency, Stockport Council and Cheshire East Council on studies looking at wider traffic movements across the area, as the solution may well be to find ways to take traffic away from the junction rather than trying to get ever-more cars through it.
I hope this helps. We put regular updates on the Gatley lights issue in our leaflets and on this website, but we’re always more than happy to speak to people about it, and to take a look at any ideas people have for sorting it out.
Im sorry that i stated that you guys promise so much and deliver very little, in fact you promise nothing but talk the talk.
I have spoken to you in person about the issues regarding Gatley lights and yes you can certainly waffle on about this problem, that problem and anything else you care to bring in to the conversation, without really saying what your going to do which is nothing of course.
But i do like your comment about how all the agencies are looking at how not to sort the problems out at Gatley lights but to look at other ways at moving the traffic away to some where else, brilliant why didnt i think of that.
What we’ve done is no secret, starting with the left-filter lane and up to the latest plans.
I don’t know why you didn’t think of moving traffic somewhere else – but it’s neither an easy nor a simple solution.
I think the reality is some problems are difficult – we all want easy solutions and sometimes there just isn’t one. I appreciate some people will see that as “just talk” or “not solving the problem”. Such is life!
I totally agree with John Hartley (No 2 comment).I often wait ,when the lights are on red,across the outer lane that takes you into Gatley in order to get across to go to Cheadle. Traffic simply won’t let you in.
I often write to you Iain about the grass growing so high near the slip road and it still takes WEEKS for it to be cut. I have even taken photos so that you can see the problem. It is SOOOOOOOOO dangerous. Tarmacing it over would be terrific as it would solve the problem. But no doubt it will take 2 to 3 years before that is done!!
Best solution would be to build a tunnel for the A34 traffic to bypass the junction
I agree with Bruce….I’ve said it many times before that there will be no solution until an underpass or overpass is done and the time to have done was well before your time Iain..so you can’t be blamed for that one. It was the fault the planners and politicians at the time when the bypass was designed and permissions were granted for all the shopping and housing along it’s route. Commuted sums from planning permissions could have been (and still could be)used to pay for it. I’m sure the many big retailers along the route could have easily funded the under/overpass….if only they had been asked! Have we missed an opportunity or is there still enough permissions for developments along the bypass route to start thinking creatively to fund the solution.
Two things. Firstly, The HA changes to the slip road are not working where the two slips join. The off-slip clockwise merges into one lane at the top (but with no lane markings!), where it really should be two clearly marked lanes to allow traffic to merge right.
Secondly, the volume of traffic will NEVER reduce, no matter how many fixes are made at this junction. The only way to reduce congestion will be to construct another off-slip clockwise at junction 2. I don’t know why this has never been suggested, because there would appear to be ample land available for such a venture. This would take all the Cheadle traffic, and possibly Cheadle Hulme, away from the J3 problems, and may relieve the congestion.
Has this ever been considered Iain?
Hi Alan,
I know the Highways Agency are looking at how the two lanes merge, though all the solutions seem to have cons as well as pros.
I don’t know if the HA have considered that specific solution, but I certainly hope it will be something being looked at now.
The work done on the Kingsway M60 / A34 has made a great improvement, and a few tweaks here and there will improve more. The box junction for the South Park people should solve their issue. While doing this, could consideration be given to putting a box junction on Kingsway just after the lights at the intersection of the M60 slip road.
Due to the refusal of most drivers to accept that amber and red mean stop, cars continue to go through the lights then block the path for vehicles entering the A34 from the sliproad. It is most annoying, especially if you are on the outside and intending to turn right to Gatley. It would seem that the timing of the lights assumes everyone plays the game and obeys the traffic light sequence but in reality this rarely happens these days.