{"id":97291,"date":"2025-05-13T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T06:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/97291\/"},"modified":"2025-05-13T06:00:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T06:00:13","slug":"why-is-it-taking-salford-council-a-year-to-put-chapel-streets-new-bike-lanes-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/97291\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is it taking Salford council a YEAR to put Chapel Street’s new bike lanes in?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The controversial project has been unpopular with drivers in its first few weeks – but this is why it’s taking as long as it will(Image: UGC)<\/p>\n

Salford council has explained why it is taking a YEAR to build bike lanes on a major city centre road where roadworks have caused traffic misery.<\/p>\n

Work to install bike lanes, more pedestrian areas, and extra room for buses on Chapel Street began in late April, but a major closure of the thoroughfare came into effect last week (May 5), shutting Chapel Street westbound from Blackfriars Road to New Bailey Street.<\/p>\n

The closure created long tailbacks in its first week, with motorists reporting \u2018hour long queues\u2019 and neighbours adding they\u2019ve \u2018never seen it like this before\u2019.<\/p>\n

Commuter Helen Marsh said on social media \u2018it took me one-and-a-half hours to do a 13 mile journey from Leigh into Manchester [on] Thursday morning\u2019 using the A6.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was gridlocked, cars blocking junctions because the lights turn before you can move, horn beeping everywhere,\u201d she added. \u201cIt\u2019s like doing a day\u2019s work before you actually arrive at work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s turning people off travelling into the city centre for work and shopping \u2014 which is the opposite of what I assume the intentions are. So frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vision for Chapel Street(Image: Salford council)<\/p>\n

There are fears Salford<\/a> could face extended congestion hell, as the project is not expected to finish until April next year and its first weeks have been trying.<\/p>\n

Now, council bosses have explained why work will take a year.<\/p>\n

When asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service why the end date is next spring, Coun Mike McCusker, the lead member for planning, transport and sustainable development, said: \u201cThe works involve extensive excavations to accommodate the works required around some of the existing underground utilities, drainage, traffic signal ducting, kerbing, footway and landscaping.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe contractor has to carry these works out safely for the workforce and the public whilst maintaining access for buses, residents, businesses and general traffic in the city centre where there is very limited space and high congestion.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Image: Josh Hunter)<\/p>\n

Previously, a council spokesperson said the \u2018one-way closure on Chapel Street represents the best solution currently available to deliver the works safely and efficiently\u2019.<\/p>\n

They added: \u201cThe set up balances the needs of local residents and businesses whilst maintaining the operation of public transport and general traffic flow with a provision for pedestrians and cyclists, whilst providing an adequate space for the works in a built up and very constricted city centre environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the first week of the closure, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) said it spoke to Salford council bosses to see if any tweaks could be made.<\/p>\n

A TfGM statement explained: \u201cWe met with Salford Council and other key partners earlier today [May 10] to investigate the causes of the disruption in more detail and are explore options to ease the build-up of traffic along Chapel Street going forward, including potential changes to traffic light sequencing at the junction of Blackfriars Street.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The controversial project has been unpopular with drivers in its first few weeks – but this is why…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,45375,393,4884,2465,8086,285,1290,27605,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-97291","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-chapel-street","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-city-centre","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-salford","16":"tag-salford-council","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114499002453041246","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}