Greater Manchester has launched the city region’s third award-winning CYCLOPS junction.
The new junction, where Stretford Road meets Chorlton Road, will form part of the Chorlton to Manchester Busy Beeway, a £13.4 million, 5km mile route linking Chorlton, Whalley Range, Stretford and Hulme with the city centre.
Designed by Greater Manchester engineers, CYCLOPS stands for Cycle Optimised Protected Signals. The unique design of the CYCLOPs junction completely separates pedestrians and cyclists from motor traffic at junctions. People travelling on foot are also able to get where they want to be in fewer stages with more space to wait than on other junction designs.
A further seven CYCLOPS junctions are currently under construction in Greater Manchester. They include one CYCLOPS junction in Bury at Angouleme Way and Market Street which will be completed in November. A major scheme in Trafford Road, Salford, includes a further six CYCLOPS junctions. This is expected to be completed by Spring 2022.
Active travel is the most popular form of transport in the city region, second only to driving. There are currently over 100,000 cycle trips and around 1.3 million walking trips every day in Greater Manchester.
Transport Commissioner, Chris Boardman, said:
“This latest CYCLOPS junction epitomises what we’re doing – creating safe spaces for walking and cycling that meet our necessary safety standards; routes and junctions that we’d feel happy for a 12-year-old to use, and that a person in a wheelchair will feel comfortable travelling on.
“Our spend per head in Greater Manchester is currently around £18 per year – that’s almost at the levels enjoyed in Denmark and The Netherlands. This latest junction launch is part of a 10-year mission of making the city-region one of the best places in the world to travel on foot and by bike.”
