City centre road changes are on the way as work to finish the Metrolink’s Second City Crossing draws to a close.
Work to build the new £165million tram line through the heart of Manchester city centre is now nearing completion on Princess Street, which is set to temporarily reopen to its original one-way working from Saturday 22 October until the New Year.
These changes are necessary to accommodate the new Second City Crossing, which will enable more frequent, reliable and flexible services to run on the busy tram network, which now hosts more than 36 million journeys a year and is an integral part of the transformational Grow project, which is seeing more than £1 billion invested into Manchester city centre infrastructure improvements by 2017.
From Thursday 20 October finishing works will take place on the Princess Street/West Mosley Street junction. As a result, West Mosley Street at its junction with Princess Street will be temporarily closed for approximately three weeks.
In addition, work to reconstruct the roadway along Albert Square from Brazennose Street to John Dalton Street will start on 22 October for approximately one week, meaning a temporary road closure. Localised diversion routes will be in place and clearly signposted for both closures.
This weekend will also see some changes to Metrolink services as improvement works take place on the Altrincham line. Passengers are advised to check before they travel by visiting the Metrolink website.
While some Second City Crossing construction work continues on Cross Street, all major civil engineering work is due to finish before the busy festive period when Manchester city centre welcomes the annual Christmas Markets – attracting millions of visitors to the city.
Peter Cushing, Transport for Greater Manchester’s Metrolink Director, said: “It’s the final push for the Second City Crossing now and we’re working hard to get all major works finished before the busy Christmas period.
“We’ll be in a position to reopen Princess Street to one-way traffic this Saturday, with some temporary road closures in the area as we finish works around Albert Square. I’d encourage anyone driving in the area in coming weeks to plan ahead and familiarise themselves with the road layout.”
A thorough testing and commissioning programme will take place before the first passenger services can launch.
The Second City Crossing leaves Victoria Station and travels along Corporation Street to a new stop at Exchange Square. Services will continue along Cross Street and Princess Street to run through the major new stop recently completed in St Peter’s Square.
