Temporary cycle lanes on A56 in Sale set to be introduced

A temporary cycle lane through Sale’s busiest road the A56 is coming into operation next month as a legacy of lockdown.

Trafford Council wants to create a lane for cyclists for a seven-mile stretch from Altrincham to White City, including Washway Road and Cross Street.

The road will be reduced from three lanes to two in Stretford next week with the rest of the stretch converted by mid June. The changes will be constantly reviewed for safety and its understood there is a chance it could be made permanent.

Council leader Andrew Western – also Green City Lead at Greater Manchester Combined Authority – said: “Over the past few weeks the council has been looking at ways in which we can support the rapid growth in walking and cycling journeys as we’ve seen the commencement of lockdown.

“This is particularly important now that government guidance has changed to increase the number of people returning to work while strongly encouraging commuters to avoid public transport.

“There is consequently a need – with walking and cycling up and road journeys down by more than half – to temporarily re-allocate some road space to increase space for non-car users, particularly given the increased usage of the canal towpath where social distancing is challenging.

“It had been a priority to look at improving our walking and cycling infrastructure in any event, with than £30m allocated to supporting schemes across the borough over the next three years.”

The authority has been able to move rapidly on this ground-breaking scheme after receiving emergency cash from the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Cycling and Walking Challenge Fund.

The Council is working with its partner Amey at One Trafford Partnership to develop more schemes in the short-term to see how these changes can help deliver its longer term ambitions for a cleaner and greener transport network that will support and encourage more active travel and a reduction in car journeys.

Cllr Steve Adshead, Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality and Climate Change at Trafford Council said: “We will also be looking closely at how these short-term and essential measures that will be introduced can help us move towards a place that we want future generations to be able to enjoy.”