Sheffield traffic: How £250m A57 road upgrade will 'drastically' cut Sheffield-Manchester journey times

The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced on Thursday, November 7 that work on the long-awaited A57 link road upgrade would start in the ‘coming weeks’.

Two new link roads will be created.

The Mottram Moor Link Road will be a new dual carriageway from the M67 junction 4 roundabout to a new junction on the A57(T) at Mottram Moor.

The A57 Link Road will be a new single carriageway link from the A57(T) at Mottram Moor to a new junction on the A57 in Woolley Bridge.

The Westwood roundabout near Sheffield is also being upgraded, and improvements are being made along the A628, A616 and A61, including electronic signs and improved closure gates.

The Department for Transport claimed in a release issued on Thursday that the £250m upgrade would be ‘transformational to road users and businesses across the north of England’.

‘Journey times will drastically decrease’

“Journey times between Manchester and Sheffield will drastically decrease and local communities will benefit from not only better connectivity, but also reduced noise and pollution,” it added.

National Highways said scheme preparation works were continuing, including work to close off a gas pipe and to divert cables on a footpath near Mottram in Longendale.

Overnight work to construct the site compound was scheduled to begin on Monday, November 4, and archaeological mitigation work is set to begin in mid-November and continue until the end of the year.

Once work actually starts on the bypass it is expected to take around three years to complete.

It is more than 50 years since the A57 links road project was first conceived, with the plans having evolved over that time.

‘Ending 14 years of neglect of the north’

Rachel Reeves said: “Investment in our transport infrastructure is vital to delivering our growth mission. Without improvements to our roads and rail we won’t be able to create jobs and boost business, which is why I prioritised projects like the Transpennine Route Upgrade and the long awaited A57 upgrade in the Budget last week.

"Securing the delivery of these two important schemes brings our key northern economic centres closer together. This government is ending 14 years of neglect of the north, instead bolstering the region’s immense growth power to benefit the whole country."

Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, said that the north’s transport infrastructure had been ‘neglected’ for ‘too long’ and the A57 upgrade along with other schemes would ‘make a huge different to people’s everyday journeys’.

The Chancellor also set out how the Trans-Pennine Upgrade, funding for which was announced in last week’s budget, would transform rail links between Manchester and York, via Leeds and Huddersfield, slashing journey times between Manchester and Leeds from 50 to 42 minutes.

There was no mention of rail improvements for Sheffield, where there are proposals to restore passenger services between Sheffield city centre and Stocksbridge.