'Mancunian Way should link to the M1 by 25-mile long tunnel'
24.02.2024 - 07:57
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Manchester and Sheffield are two of Britain's biggest cities, but you'd never guess it from their transport links. They're only 35 miles apart as the crow flies, but just two main roads, the winding and often hair-raising Snake and Woodhead passes, connect the former industrial powerhouses.
But if 1960s planners had had their way things would be vastly different. The Mancunian Way is now one of Manchester's most famous landmarks.
A feat of mid 20th century innovation and ambition, the 'highway in the sky', was originally built to reduce journey times across the city, particularly for lorries going to and from Trafford Park and the docks at Salford. But it was also envisaged as the start of a cross-Pennine motorway that would allow drivers to speed uninterrupted from the heart of Manchester to the M1 just north of Sheffield.
Try MEN Premium now for FREE... just click here to give it a go
The route would have cut a swathe through Gorton, roughly following Hyde Road, before joining up with the M67 at Denton. Then it would have bypassed the now notorious bottleneck at Mottram before, most ambitiously, tunnelling under the Peak District hills and emerging at the other side in South Yorkshire.
So what went wrong? Why was it never built?
The answer, in short, is geography and money. The Pennines have always presented a formidable barrier between Lancashire and Yorkshire and the vast costs and engineering difficulties of navigating such inhospitable terrain, not to mention the inevitable objections to driving a six lane motorway through the Peak District, are a large part of why the plans were never completed.
But that's not to say some progress wasn't made. The five mile stretch of the M67 is the most visible example.
Dubb