The work will see pavements widened and new signalled crossings installed
The Plodder Lane junction ‘lacks safe crossings’
Work has started on a 10-week project to make a busy junction outside a hospital safer.
Transport bosses said the junction between Plodder Lane and Redgate Way – a key route for people accessing Royal Bolton Hospital and Cherry Tree primary school, currently ‘lacks safe crossings at all points of the junction’ for people walking, wheeling and cycling.
The improvements, being built by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), include the installation of new signalled crossings and pavement widening.
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Rotating cones, a spinning mechanism fitted beneath the yellow signal box and tactile paving are being installed to aid crossing for people who are visually impaired or blind. TfGM said the changes will ensure the junctions are accessible for people with disabilities and people with buggies and make journeys to hospital and school easier and safer.
Work at Plodder Lane began on Monday, September 15 and is expected to last between eight and 10 weeks.
Motorists are braced for disruption and delays as temporary lights will be in operation to manage traffic flows.
Additional measures will be in place to ensure that ambulances have priority when accessing the hospital in an emergency.
A spokesman for Bee Network said they had delivered 200 new crossings in recent years.
Active travel commissioner Dame Sarah Storey said: “The junction between Plodder Lane and Redgate Way is a busy route for people accessing the hospital for work or appointments, and for families accessing the nearby primary school.
“Many people going to and from these key amenities will be doing so without a car, meaning that there is a real need for safe and accessible crossings.
“I am pleased to see the work getting underway and starting to address some of the key findings from the Active Travel Annual report last year which pointed to the improvements needed to make it safer and easier for pedestrians to get around.”
Bolton council’s executive member for highways and transport, Coun Hamid Khurram, said: “People rely on the vital services that the hospital provides so it’s important that everyone can get to it easily and safely, whether they are walking, wheeling or driving.
“I’m also pleased that the new improvements to the crossing will benefit children, parents and carers heading to the nearby primary school.”
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The Plodder Lane scheme is part of wider programme of crossing and junction improvements in Greater Manchester, with a total of nine schemes going ahead thanks to £3.8m awarded by Active Travel England in 2024.
TfGM said that in the last five years, Greater Manchester had seen the proportion of people walking short journeys increase from 52pc to 57pc.