A49 Goose Green to Westwood Park Link Road

Slated to begin construction on the 20th October 2017 *Construction Tenders Required*

http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:153665-2017:TEXT:EN:HTML

https://procontract.due-north.com/Advert?advertId=0e6f7e32-9429-e711-80df-005056b64545

THANK you very much T.T.S. for this information all i wish to add is for pete's sake let's get cracking and get it done ..

Strange turnaround seeing the contract was previously awarded in July 2015:

'' Wigan Council has awarded an £11m contract to Galliford Try Infrastructure to build the A49 Goose Green to Westwood Park link road.

The 2.5km dual carriageway will start at a new roundabout junction with Warrington Road at Goose Green, and will go east along the route of the old railway line to Westwood Park. The road will then continue northwards through Westwood Park. There will be two new traffic light controlled junctions up to Chapel Lane, along the existing road which is to be widened to dual carriageway''

When is it due to be finished

royloo

It is supposed to be finished on the 30th June 2019

only two years to more marus bridge type chaos ?

Aye and that is they doo build it...

2.5 km eh, in proper money just over one and a half miles ,two years to build.another rip off.the old wigan corporation works dept would have had it built in twelve months.
£8 million pounds a mile an absolute snip.

They wii to something with the lights at Marcus junction at early and late peak times that's for sure

Baker boy,I think the corporation works department dealt with housing and building works.
The Streets department dealt with roadworks and sewers and drains.
The Warrington road stretch from Marus bridge to the motorway island ,constructed about 1962 ,less than a mile in length took about 18 months to construct.

Wigan Council has retendered a £14m road scheme that was initially awarded to Galliford Try in June 2015.


The council has put the A49 Goose Green to Westwood Park link road back out to tender, with the deal expected to be worth £14m.

Galliford Try was awarded the contract in June 2015 but Bob Gibbon, managing director of the contractor’s highways business unit, said the two parties parted ways “amicably”.

“We were awarded the initial design contract for the A49 link road in Wigan [in June 2015],” he said.

“Unfortunately, however, we have been unable to negotiate a subsequent construction contract that meets the requirements of Wigan Council and ourselves, so have amicably agreed not to take our involvement in the scheme any further.”

Courtesy of today's Construction News

Is it Billy Smart?

thanks for update Builderboy

So it's off ?

According to the 'tender' details, construction will start on the 20th October 2017 ,, see the links in my first post.

Maybe they have lined up George Cox to build the road.

http://www.gcox.co.uk/

They built the magnificent 'Marus Bridge Traffic Light Controlled Junction'

We all like that don't we

And the new junction at Marus Bridge is actually part of the 'A49 Goose Green to Westwood Park Link Road' project

So how will Sir Bob Way improved the cock up at the ex island?

It looks like work as started on the road

Just saw a pig flying over Ashton.

Fireplace at this time of night could do with a flying pig to get you past Ashton

Did it s**t in your eye FP?

Better luck next time eh?

Why PeterP?

Think you have s**t in your eyes all the time sledge.

You can never see past our wonderful council.

I would rather have it in my eyes than between my ears FP

Tommy Two Stroke, you are way behind times. That October 2017 date was just the latest date when our esteemed council said that Galliford Try would be starting work. But as builderboy says above, the council awarded Galliford the contract in June 2015. Since then they have messed Gallifords about with their on/off tactics basically because they haven't had the money in place to do the work. Now they again reckon that they have the money, but only enough for the June 2015 price. Galliford have given them a revised tender with increases for price rises in materials, increased design costs, extra work which has been added to the agreed tender and other associated costs. The clever children at the council have said, "no,Mr Galliford, we want it done at the June 2015 price". To which Galliford have said in polite terms, "sod off Wigan Council, we have got bigger and better things to do with our time than deal with you bunch of amateurs".
So it now has to go back out to tender again and the process starts all over again.

chris southworth

I think yoo are behind the times, the contract was put back out to tender in April, with a start date of October this year and it is the government who as delayed things, because of the devalootion process.

For whatever reason galliford-try and Wigan Council parted company, today I noticed that Bethell Construction have started to build the first part of the project, which is section two compound and access to the Smithy Brook bridge site, next job is temporary bridge over Smithy Brook, so machines can get to tuther side of Smithy Brook

Galliford and the council parted company for the reason I stated. I suspect that there wasn't a proper tendering process if Bethell have been given the job. They are as thick as thieves with Wigan Council are aren't a very good outfit. They will probably be doing the job for the same price as Gallifords tendered and a few strings will be pulled along the way. It could turn out messy.

Personally I don't care who does the job, as long as this 50 odd year wait for this sodding road comes to an end and they build the bloody thing ...

There is no way i believe this clowncil , 2years or just over my ar*e ,can one cast your minds back to the earthquake in JAPAN a few years back? Well if you can't i will jog your mind's with this bit of news,
There was a section of highway completely destroyed it was roughly 2 and three quarters of a mile . right with me ,they cleared everything away, within 6 SIX WEEKS IT WAS COMPLETED DONE .FINITO , THE LOT.

Now i'm hearing this tweeny bit of our LINK road will take TWO 2 OR MORE YEARS IS SOMEONE EXTRACING MY URINE ??? OR WHAT To quote Macenroe ( YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS )

TTS

It's a poor substitute for the 1949 route 225

Are you going to post that route, for comparison?

I think they shoul make poolstock lane one way coming out of Wigan and have 2 lanes....tough if you live there...just like me I have to travel up to the motorway roundabout and back to go into Wigan...exactly 1 mile to go past my house again

gaffer

I agree

priscus

The original road envisaged, would have been the M58 extended from where it ends now at Orrell and then up to the M61 at Farnworth, it was originally referred to as the Mid Lancashire Motorway ...

www.m58_mid_lancashire_motorway/

Thank you TTS.

The whole link from the M58/M6 to the M61 at Westhoughton will never get built. Mainly because of the cost of it.Wigan Council just haven't got the money for it. That is why they are trying to get developers like Peel on board to fund sections such as the South of Hindley stretch by offering them the land on either side for housebuilding. The last piece from Gibfield at Atherton to the M61 is on Bolton Council territory and they aren't interested because they are letting Peel and Persimmon build 4000 houses in the way.
But in my eyes the ultimate missing link will be the short section across Amberswood Common between Ince and Hindley. That will not be built because the nature of the ground won't allow it. Up to 25m depth of the ground was dug out over a wide stretch when they opencasted there in the 1980's. The hole was afterwards backfilled with a mixture of pit dirt, soft wet clay and rock from the opencast excavations. It was not "engineered backfill" as it should have been to carry a road across. Almost 30 yrs working as a site engineer in civils and construction tells me, having seen the records from the boreholes done for the road, that a road cannot be built across Amberswood Common. They have already shifted the proposed line of the road 3 times to avoid some of the bad ground but there is a stretch about 500 yds wide that there is no way they can avoid.

Was it never proposed to do a link from the M6 exit at Standish. It always looked as though the road was ready to go under that bridge.

chris southworth

Councils don't build motorways, the government in the form of the DFT (Dept of Transport) build motorways and as regards Bolton being awkward and not wanting to extend the road from Gibfield, through Bolton territory up to the M61 "YES" Bolton Council are a set of barstewards who won't agree to it.

BUT

The devolution thing with Greater Manchester and AGMA and TFGM means that all transport infrastructure spending in Greater Manchester, is now coordinated by AGMA and TFGM and it all as to integrate together with each neighbouring authority, so Bowton maybe forced to agree to allow the road from Gibfield to run up to the M61 unimpeded by 4000 houses.

On about dodgy ground in Amberswood, well that comes down to civil engineering know how and cost, the road structure can be reinforced with pilings and such like, which just adds to the cost of the road, but it can be done

TTS, you can't pile a road.

Amberswood common was opencasted in the 50s as well as the 80s,but route 5225 would have been built across the common had it not been stopped by the government.

Yeah Spud 1 but that was before they landscaped it into the nature reserve that it is now. They could have picked a better route then to avoid the disturbed ground but now they only have a narrow corridor through which they can fit it.

Shanghai's MAGLEV trackway crosses ground subject to liquefaction, so is supported on 70 Metre deep piles.

priscus, that is a completely different construction to a road. Aye it had several thousand 70m deep piles to support it, but they were in groups forming a pilecap every 25m under each support column. That is nothing exceptional, standard construction design. For a road you have to support the full width of the road along it's entire length so you would need a pile every 1m minimum across it's width and for every 1m of length. The Maglev cost $1.2billion to build. Wigan Council have only costed this short 1.8 Km road at £4.2 million and that is just for a standard 6m wide carriageway and footpath with no extras for unforeseen ground conditions.

Chris,the route of the 5225 had already been landscaped,the new road appears to be following the same route,the information I have is from the last meeting at Formby Hall,about 1996,and the planners at the meeting said the A5225 was due to open in 2000.

chris southworth

Why don't you want the road to be built ?

The Dept of Transport must have been happy with the route,along with Parkman Consulting Engineers,and the A5225 would have been lot wider than the new one will be.

I do not want to doubt someone's assessment but if a railway can be built across Chat Moss then surely this road can be built here perhaps we need the help of the Romans and their reed bundles for crossing swamps , and there should be no 'unforeseen 'conditions with all the information that is available.

Chris, of course you do not need to pile every metre. You have spaced piers and a span between them. I think they call it a 'viaduct'.

just back from 3 weeks away,my info re poolstock lane resurfacing was sound,and they have started work on the new wigan super highway.
i saw three men digging a hole on the old railway embankment near the tippings arms,one with a spade and two watching..
i look forward to walking the entire length of the new road in my car,if i live long enough.

I saw a man in a hole there today along with a winch, so obviously there is an underground chamber there, so work must be to do with the sewers

Yes Priscus, and that is what the Maglev is, a viaduct. But we aren't talking viaducts here. They cost a hell of a lot more money than what Wigan Council have earmarked for this job. For the £4.2 million in the budget for this piece of road they will get an excavation down to good solid virgin clay which is usually about 2ft below the surface. Then the road build up will be a foot of imported MOT standard rolled stone and 10 inches of base and top coat tarmac. Throw in the associated drainage, any earthworks for streams, small cuttings or embankments, footpath and fencing and there is your £4.2 million gone.

Spud 1, maybe that is why the Dept of Transport scrapped the idea, the escalating costs due to poor ground conditions.
I go on a website regularly of the British Geological Survey for allsorts of stuff. One of the sections on there will give you access to borehole records and maps all over the country. Some of the info is restricted but all of the hundreds of boreholes and trial pits done for the A5225 scheme are there to be looked at.
You can see the proposed route as it was then in 1990 when the boreholes were done. If you compare it with the latest proposals for the route you can see where it has been changed because of the ground conditions. Not just at Amberswood but at the other opencast site it was originally designed to cross at Daisy Hill. At Daisy Hill, the opencast contractor was instructed to provide an "engineered" strip across the backfill and it was done under supervision. However, when the boreholes were done later, the strip was found to be unsuitable for road construction. Fortunately, at Daisy Hill, they had scope to move the road completely off that route and put it into a junction with Atherleigh Way at Howe Bridge.
They have no scope for that at Amberswood. They have already moved parts of the route at least twice but there is quite a long stretch which cannot be moved.
I think the council is bluffing when they keep going on about building this road, just as a PR exercise.

Root 225 was shelved by John Major's Government in 1990 because country was skint and in recession, not because of quicksand in Higher Ince

And the next one is due next year!

TTS

Some prep work has started this week for the new road.
Before the actual bridge and road building can start, the main sewer near the Tippings has to be re-routed.
So, look out for more disruption on Poolstock Lane in the next week or two.

Yes I observed the sewer pipes today in the compound off Worsley Mesnes Drive

poolstock lane will still be used cause it will be shorter and quicker than the new long way round.

Anyone noticed the filter arrow, at the right turn into Highfield Grange Avenue

''poolstock lane will still be used cause it will be shorter and quicker than the new long way round.''

BUSES AND TAXIS ONLY??? That was in the original plans, buses and taxis only from pool street junction.

They've stopped building now, no fences,no cabins,no diggers and no money to carry on, They've put Petrochelli in charge of the building of it so, It might take some time,

for those who might not know petrochelli

if poolstock lane is one way ,i know three wmbc cllrs out on their fat backsides.

SO

As anyone noticed the filter arrow, on the traffic lights at the right turn into Highfield Grange Avenue, from Warrington Road, where the numpty heads have been having their bumps

I had't noticed it tommy,cos i never go that way, I'll have a look tomorrow to please you though, its took some time to get there, Why has it took so long after identifying the problem ?

Don't know, norra cloo

Work on the new road should start in early spring

www.wigantoday.net/early-2018-start-for-long-awaited-a49-link-road

Says in that article £21.5m.... and yet Galliford Try were awarded an £11m contract to build the road in 2015

BIG jump in cost!!!

That might inclood the link to the M58 as well

No TTS, the scope of the contract hasn't changed. The situation is as I stated on this thread on 8th August. Galliford agreed at £11m in 2015. The council then messed them about, added bits of work to the original scheme including treatment of old mineworkings which they suddenly "found".
Then they asked Galliford to start the work this Autumn at the original price, to which Galliford obviously told them what to do with their job. Hence retendering by possibly only one conractor resulting in the price almost doubling. What an incompetent shower we have at Wigan Council.

The estimated cost in the re-tendering documentation, linked too in this topics starting post, is 14 million pounds, which would fit in with the extra costs on top of the 11 million pound disputed Galliford Try tender, so where does the Wigan Evening Post get the 21.5 million pounds figure they mention.

Sounds like WEP crap to me

Well, we all know what the WEP is like.

Yooo should know better than the rest of us Tommy tooo stokes, The Wigan council tell so many lies that, If they tell me " good morning" I put my pyjama's on and go to bed,

We'll never see that rode built on our life time,

What a deafening silence from the support group. Must be under orders for blanket silence regarding anything WMBC.

Smiffy's threatened 'um.

Maybe they are just becoming tired of reading the same old sanctimonious bull*h*t from the same old sanctimonious bull*h*tters

Never fails
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

WIGAN CLOWNCIL
COMICAL PLACE COMICAL PEOPLE
BENT AS NINE BOB NOTES

QED

F.A.B.

WIGAN CLOWNCIL
COMICAL PLACE COMICAL PEOPLE
BENT AS NINE BOB NOTES

sad dog do you ever find wmbc anything but faultless.

And even then his paymasters put a lid on their name being mentioned on this site.
Must be so frustrating.

WIGAN CLOWNCIL
COMICAL PLACE COMICAL PEOPLE
BENT AS NINE BOB NOTES

Another right turn/straight on bump at Warrington Rd/Highfield Grange!
So much for a filter arrow eh TTS!!
No use if drivers ignore it!!!

Well that's true, all I can suggest is word the sign differently, because your more mentally challenged drivers cannot understand it

Could take lessons off the Spanish about road building.Go to Albir every September and a new road seems to be in place on each visit

According to Cadfael, the new road is opening at 8.00pm tonight

https://youtu.be/IGm9_elec2I

Well done Wigan Council, and well done Cadfael

will yoooo be on the starting grid Tommy 2 stroke ? or will you be showing your bum at top of Wigan

Now why would I be showing me bum at the top of Wigan

yoo said somewhere else, if that roads opens this year, I will show my bum at top of wallgate BUT, no matter

I've just done a survey and my concooosion is,
There is tons of fencing all around the road. barriers and cones and no workmen on site, If they started clearing now, it would be a massive opperation to clear ir all for 8.00pm, so, either

1. caddy speaks with fork tongue
2. they will just open the road, end to end and leave the path closed
3.Open Monday, as my informant said,

Traffic lights are still not working at the Poolstock end, HOWEVER they are working at the Goose Green end, the new crossing at where the new road starts, the traffic lights have now been switched on

Now on about bottoms on display, I said if it opened on Thursday I would show me bum at the top of Wigan, but the problem with that sort of thing is that I might end up locked up, and that would mean that I would miss the opening of the new road .

Not going to be biking weather this next few days, so I wont be making an appearance, I will wait till Chris Boardman pops down to officially open the new cycle lanes, and do a ride through with him.

Why pay some one to open the cycle lanes? just make them safe and open them no fanfare no fuss

So how's the countdown for the launch of the noo road going, is it going smoothly, or are there concerns about the weather at launch time, have any anomalies been found during the countdown up to now.

Is there going to be a go, no go, decision at 6pm ?

T-Minus 3hrs - 12mins - 0secs to launch

It might flood if we get these thunder storms that they have promised

have they moved all that fencing between the carriageways at the chapel lane end ? they were still there at 12 noon and there were no workmen on site, they will not open it with then still there, then there are miles of fencing along the woods, all the fencing to keep Thick mick off the cycle lane as well, I still think its gotta be Monday at the soonest,

According to this it has already taken off,,, yon mon has cut ribbon and opened it .......



New Road Open

I'm sure this has been posted on the site before but does anyone have a map showing where this road starts and finishes?

Also, is this due to link up with the M58/M6 at Orrell at some point in the future?

Cheers

If yoo don't know where the road starts and finishes by now, yoo want shootin

Yes, I thought the same myself TTS!

I do know it starts on Warrington Road and I assume it finishes up near The Range but that's all I know. The map was more to see it's progression, how it gets there and what it goes over/past.

That isn't a side of town I am familiar with. I realised the other day that I have never been to Scotsman's flash and only vaguely know where it is!

I confess to being ignorant of the new link road’s location.
Doing some reseach it said It connects to the M6 which rather confused me, but of course it meant usinge the existing road network, some of which has been widened.

Link Road


You can click on the map to enlarge it.

here Ray and 0 years,

no need to go shootin; folks

Well all that money for such litle roadway is open.

Wiganers really are slow, you know.

Thee drivers aren't. Maniacs.

Thanks raymyjamie and Tomplum, that's all very interesting, especially the drone shots.

So, have the extra road and the widening bits of existing roads from the M58/M6 already been done to connect up to the new Poolstock bypass meaning that it is all now finished from the M58 to Chapel Lane?

0years, the road is now built from, chapel lane to Goose Green the next phase to the M58 is still in the clouds, It might be a few years yet before that comes,

Thanks Tom, that's a shame but at least Saddle Junction will see some relief.

When you leave the M6 and head up the slip road to turn left for Standish there has been a stretch of road there for seemingly ever which I thought was to link up to the M61 at some stage. Has that been scrapped altogether?

I think you are thinking of Junction 27 Broady, the M58 junction is junction 26.

Apologies if it is me who has the wrong end of the stick.

You are right Broady, the road should have gone through the fields and come out near to Boars Head

Broady is correct. Heading south, take junction 27 (Standish) and turn left. That dual carriageway was intended to be a south-bound M6 turnoff for Wigan.
The land and properties there have had cautions on at the land registry for years.
Same goes for the junction 25. That had a southbound exit planned, properties having cautions placed at the land registry in the 1970's.

Speaking of the M6 junction 27, they've put traffic lights in the middle of the island.
Last week, I turned off the M6 there, heading north, and nearly ran up the arse of a car parked in the middle of the roundabout because the lights were on red. I couldn't see the standing traffic due to the grass on the roundabout being overgrown, to the extent that it's hanging over the road.

The idea of a roundabout is to avoid installing traffic lights. Why do they put traffic lights on roundabouts?

Why dothey put traffic lights at the entry to a motorway? Now that's stupid!

0 Years,
I know the M58 quite well. I worked a short time for Percy Bilton on the stretch nearest to Orrell and three years for Alfred McAlpine on the M58 that went to Aintree from 78 to 81. A good job that was.

Traffic light have been installed because drivers are speeding around roundabouts that fast there are no gaps for other traffic to join in.

Broady, the M58 doesn't go to Aintree.

Yes Tonker/Fat mick, that is what I said. Junction 27 is the one that Broady was referring to.

I was simply pointing out that the junction he was referring to was not the one where the M58 meets the M6 (26) which was the subject of discussion. As he nor anyone else had mentioned 27 I assumed he was confusing it with 26.

On the subject of that slip road (27) it's surprising when I discuss it with locals that it hasn't occurred to them the exit/entrance is raised, as is the road on either side of it, for no apparent reason (unless you know the intended use that is).

Broady, I remember years ago when Granada Reports/Look N.W. did a piece from a bridge over the M58 not long after it was built to show what a waste of money it was. At least you did OK out of it. Only a couple of cars went by in the whole piece. It's not much different now.

Goose Green to Westwood now open for traffic.
Dual Carriageway 40 mph but no lighting just yet.

I think you will find that the lighting has already gone out, because "the sun has got his hat on hip hip hooray"

Lighting was on earlier on, but it goes out as soon as there is the merest glimpse of the new dawn of the day

If they had built the road it would have gone under the Shevy lane bridge with the raised sections being the exits and entry points

When the M6 was built there was to have been two link roads fom the M6 into the centre of Wigan, both dual carriageways, the Southern Link was actually completed last night would you believe, nye on 60yrs after the M6 opened.
the Southern Link was to have gone from the Junction 25 at Marus Bridge into Wigan via Goose Green and Newtown, but it stopped at the Pemberton Loop railway bridge in Goose Green, because the loop line was to be a victim of the Beaching Cuts, the next bridge along on Warrington Road was also to have been a victim of the Beaching cuts, at Skew Bridge, because the Kirby Line as it now is named, and the Pemberton Loop were to have been closed, and the Southern Link Road dual carriageway would have then continued past Goose Green and into Wigan, with the demolition of the three railway bridges which were in the way of the dual carriageway, the bridges being the two on Warrington Road, and the railway bridge on Wallgate, which was and still is otherwise known as the Seven Stars bridge, but the now named Kirby Line did not close, it escaped the Beaching Axe in the 1970s and as such it buggered up the completion of the Southern Link into Wigan from the M6 the Pemberton Loop did not escape the axe and it closed in 1969 and the bridge was taken down.

The Northern Link from the M6 was to have gone from junction 27 at Standish, and then it would have proceeded around Standish Lower Ground, coming out on to Woodhouse Drive, and the first bit of it was built from the motorway to Shevington Lane, where the bridge is now, that is where the Northern Link would have carried on into Wigan, and Woodhouse Drive and the extension to Scot Lane and the junction at the bottom of Beech Hill Avenue were built as part of that link road in the early 1970s but it never went ahead, and I think gaffer explains that was probably due to the local government reorganisation thing in 1974 when Greater Manchester was formed, because before that we were under Lancashire County Council who were in charge of all the road building.

So it was the manky manks fault, that we didn't get that road built

Very interesting TTS

That was a long one!

Anyroadup, yesterday morning, I had to go to Wigan to measure some windows in Beech Hill, near t'top o'Gidlow Lane.
I came off the M6 at j25. Through Marus Bridge was no problem, not a lot of traffic, no hold-ups.
Goose Green was clear too,past St.Paul's and round the new island.
Then I had to stop. There was a traffic queue from the skew bridge back to Worsley Mesnes estate entry. Why? well, a couple of wagons had to get through, one each way. the car drivers couldn't make their minds up what to do in that situation and neither could the wagon drivers. In the minute or so that the wagons were stopped at the bridge, the traffic built up quite a way back.

And there lies the problem with Wigan and modern-day transport. It was built for horses pulling carts and railways. 44 ton trucks didn't feature in the minds of the developers of the respective eras.
In a way, Wigan was quite advanced. Then. But that advancement is now shooting it in it's foot (if it had one) whereas other towns, which lagged behind, back in the day, are now booming because they've got the space to errrr., "boom"!

I still say the new road should've gone from the M6/A49 island, round the back of Hawkley Hall estate and come into Wigan via. Ince.

Your a very wise man Tonker.

I had a ride on the new road last evening, travelling from Goose Green into town.
I must say that by skirting the flash it actually captures one of Wigan's more picturesque areas.
Let us hope that the piece of the jigsaw that links Goose Green to the M6/M58 junction follows on as quickly as possible.

Builderboy some people might take offense at you mentioning skirting and flash.

Mick,

I am sorry but that was a feeble attempt at trying to extract the urine.

I am sure that you can do much better than that if you put more effort into it.

I look forward to you stalking my future comments in an attempt to get your own back on me for pulling you up on your contemptible attention seeking.

Builderboy

I agree with you about skirting the flash, it shows a picturesque, part of the borough

I am literally blown away with the new road, and it reminds me of the A55 in North Wales, in that it is designated has a dual carriageway, but in reality it is a two lane motorway, but folk don't like mentioning building motorways now, so they don't call them that, and imagine if that wonderful road, does eventually, and I am sure not in any of our lifetimes, but if it does get extended up to Atherleigh Way it will be marvellous

Speed wise it is a bloody fast road, and it is hard to keep your speed down on it, so the police are going to have a wail of siren time on there, with the old speed guns

Prepare for average speed cameras though

Just saying thats all, If you got you head out of the gutter you would be able to see that there nothing wrong with my attention seeking post,
Next time you look at it you should watch the lovely Billinge butterflies that are also in the video, if it was a smelly vision video you would also be able to smell the freshly cut Billinge grass as well

Mick

When you are in a hole you should stop digging..........

Thats a good idea Builderboy

the new road is not very busy .

Monday Lunchtime

I don't think that folk realise that it is open, and listen to this Tom ....

"It's a lot quicker to get to Wigan via Poolstock Lane from Marus Bridge, than it is via the new road"

I always knew that Tommy 2 , The new road is a waste of time to me and the folks that live around these here parts, but I dooo like that cycle lane and, now I can go to Wigan without getting on a main road,,
from St Pauls across the park up to bargain Booze and down the backs of the houses, under the new bridge over the brook and I'm on the new cycle path, Brill then from there, either get on the canal, or go to the woods or go int town and many more combinations, Its opened up a brand new playground for me,

Well no Tom, when it's busy and Newtown and Poolstock are bumper to bumper, I think the road will then do the job it is intended for it too doo, in fact Newtown and Poolstock should now never be bumper to bumper, now that the noo road as opened

well poolstock lane at my end is bumper to bumper at times even now and the skools have't opened proper yet, I can't see poolstock lanegoing better because of the skools and the retail park and marus bridge,

Poppycock !

If the traffic volume is split between old and new then both routes should benefit.
For a while visitors to Wigan will be confused as their satnavs will try to direct them the old way into town despite the road signs trying to direct them onto the new road.

there comes a point going into wigan where you have to commit, First point coming from the motorway is, Poolstock or straight on, I would go Poolstock 1st choice, and if i hit slow traffic, go up worsley mesnes, if at the junction Warrington lane is clear, go right, if thats chocca go left, but if right is not good, you can bet good money left is going to be worse, cos the queuing traffic has already come past it, So its a 'stacking' road, it gives you hobson choice, better to drive round like the headless chicken than to wait in traffic, but its always going to be my ' last ditch' choice, From my end,
what would you choice be, and why ??

Roobarb

TTS., said, laaaaike, "Speed wise it is a bloody fast road, and it is hard to keep your speed down on it, so the police are going to have a wail of siren time on there, with the old speed guns "

Well, coincidentally, on my way to Westhoughton yesterday morning and travelling up Bolton Road towards Bamfurlong, with Bryn Hall Hotel on my right, in front of me at the Bryn Gates Lane junction was about twelve police officers, luminous green coats on, having lessons on how to use a hand held speed camera!

I said to myself, "you're going to have to watch out, because they'll be out in force in the coming weeks".

And so it came to pass. This morning, going along Warrington Road, through Platt Bridge, there he was,right in front of me, stood on the refuge in the middle of the road outside Iceland, camera aimed towards the post office opposite the Millercare shop.

Bastardos. Be extra aware. They walk amongst us!

Favourite place around there for speed traps is in between the two bridges, at the entrance to what was Walton's farm in Bamfurlong, they point the gun at the canal bridge, and as the motorist drives out of Platt Bridge they pick up speed, and as they go over the canal bridge they get zapped