David Ottewell has posted some interesting information about motorway congestion in Greater Manchester and the wider northern region. It makes the unsurprising assertion that the stretch of the M60 around Junction 13 in Worsley is the busiest in the entire region.
The report, by the Northern Way, makes some suggestions for improvement, including car sharing and more flexible working hours, but has anyone asked what the likely effect of the Congestion Charge will be on our orbital motorway?
A large proportion of traffic on the M60 is “passing through” and isn’t heading into Greater Manchester at all. By making the outer ring of the congestion charging zone follow the route of the M60, aren’t we actually likely to force more local traffic onto the motorway to avoid paying the charge? Are we setting the M60 up to be a giant rat-run when it is already stretched to capacity?
The TIF bid of course does not really take into account the regional and national travel patterns that take our local motorways over capacity. Perhaps it’s time to bring forward discussion on our regional and national transport infrastructure, starting with the excellent Conservative proposal to introduce high-speed rail to Manchester.
Incidentally, doesn’t “orbital motorway” sound much better than “ring road”?
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