Future road plans

Greater Manchester’s roads are the city-region’s arteries, supporting our day-to-day lives and a rapidly growing local economy.

Every year the travelling public makes 1.6 billion individual trips on the local highways network.

We are working with our partners to keep our roads moving and make sure they can cope with the growing demand to travel.

The Key Route Network

We now have strategic oversight and management of a Key Route Network making up nearly 400 miles of Greater Manchester’s busiest roads.

We are working with the ten Greater Manchester highways authorities to consider a more strategic and coordinated approach to managing and maintaining the city-region’s road assets. That includes developing a five year road maintenance and renewals programme.

We want to improve the way we work together to help improve the road network while also getting the best value for local taxpayers.

This will help to reduce delays and congestion, benefitting all road users and communities living alongside the road network.

The Strategic Road Network

We work very closely with Highways England to coordinate day-to-day operations and deal with incidents and events on Greater Manchester’s motorways and trunk roads.

We’re also working together to identify future opportunities to work together better and target investment.

Tackling congestion

Tackling congestion on our roads is a key priority for TfGM and Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham.

Congestion is thought to cost the city-region’s economy £1.3 billion a year. Many parts of the road network in Greater Manchester are now at capacity in peak periods, resulting in delays and inconvenience to all road users.

This also causes poor air quality for local communities and blocks economic growth.

Greater Manchester has already secured funding for a number of new infrastructure-related schemes and interventions to help tackle congestion.
These include highways investment to improve network capacity and plans to make public transport, walking and cycling more attractive.

We are currently developing a Congestion Plan that will focus on a range of measures that could help tackle congestion in the short-term.

Please check back for updates.

Future highways strategy

The Greater Manchester Transport Strategy 2040 sets out a long-term plan for creating a more integrated and reliable transport system to support major growth in Greater Manchester.

We are now working with local highway authorities to prepare a Greater Manchester Highway Strategy in support of the 2040 Transport Strategy.

This will set out Greater Manchester’s aspirations for the highway network through to 2025, including the principles we will seek to apply in its future operation, maintenance and design.

The strategy will be published in 2018.