A555 road

The A555, viewed from an old section of the A6 Buxton Road, looking west.

The A555 road is in Greater Manchester, England, along its southern border with Cheshire. It is officially known as the Manchester Airport Eastern Link, but has been described as a "road to nowhere",[1] and a "white elephant".[2] Construction to complete the road to Manchester Airport began in 2015.

History

The A555 was completed in 1995, originally part of an abandoned scheme to connect Stockport, Hazel Grove and Poynton to Manchester Airport. It was intended as a relief road to ease congestion. The original plan, which dated from the 1940s, was to build a bypass connecting Bredbury and Hazel Grove, and from Hazel Grove to Woodford, bypassing Poynton. The road would then run from Woodford to Handforth, as it does now, and then on to the airport. However, only the middle section, which crosses the A34 Handforth bypass (built at the same time) was completed, due to money shortage.

Current route

The route currently runs from the border of Woodford and Bramhall at a junction with the A5102, heading westward for approximately 2 miles before it reaches the A34 Handforth bypass, which is accessed by a grade separated junction. Close to this is Handforth Dean retail outlet, consisting of Tesco Extra and Marks & Spencer. The route ends at a double headed roundabout with the B5358, on the border of Handforth and Heald Green, approximately three miles from the airport.

Expansion

In November 2008, money was pledged by transport secretary Geoff Hoon to extend the route to Hazel Grove, and complete the link to the airport.[3] However, following the change in government at the 2010 general election, the plans were placed on hold once more.[4] However, in November 2011, the government finally approved plans to complete the link, as part of a major programme of infrastructure investment.[5] The A6 to Manchester Airport Relief Road, which completes the route between Hazel Grove and the Airport using the A555, gained its final approval in March 2015 and is now under construction, and was due for completion and opening in spring 2018,[6] but endlessly persistent heavy rain over December 2017 to February 2018 and the collapse of Carillion forced the opening date to be postponed to late summer 2018.

Opening of Full Route

An opening date of the October 15th 2018 was announced on October 5th 2018. An activity day including a 5km fun run is due to take place on Sunday October 7th as a precursor to full opening of the route between the A6 and Manchester Airport soon after.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "A555 extension: full maps". Mycouncillor.org.uk. 21 May 2009. Archived from the original on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  2. ↑ "Manchester Outer Ring Road (south)". Pathetic Motorways. Archived from the original on 12 April 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  3. ↑ "Airport road link gets go-ahead". BBC News. 2008-11-25. Retrieved 2011-03-19.
  4. ↑ "Traffic plans scrapped by government". Stockport Express. 2010-10-27. Retrieved 2011-03-19.
  5. ↑ "Government's green light for A6 link to Manchester Airport and electrification of train line to Leeds". Manchester Evening News. 28 November 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  6. ↑ "Work finally starts in Stockport on the A6 to Manchester Airport Relief Road - after almost 80 years". Manchester Evening News. 17 March 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  7. ↑ A6MARR set to open to traffic, SEMMMS
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