Pedestrian crossing for St Mary's Gate approved

Photo: Google, DigitalGlobe

The site of the planned crossing on St Mary’s Gate at the junction with Redcross Street

A major road in the centre of Rochdale will get a £2m overhaul after getting the green light from councillors.

A new pedestrian and cycle crossing will be built across St Mary’s Gate in the heart of Rochdale town centre. The dual carriageway is a key section of road that cuts through the centre of the town, providing access to key landmarks within the centre.

The new crossing will be located next to Reed Hill car park, which will also get a reconfiguration with a new entrance and exit point created at Hunters Lane.

The work, which is expected to take around four months to complete and a start date has not yet been announced.

The latest meeting of Rochdale Council's cabinet in Number One Riverside heard how £2.035m of capital and £118k revenue funding from the Towns Fund programme will go towards this project.

Resurfacing of the footpaths near the new crossing as well as the subway that connects High Street and Cheetham Street are also planned as part of the scheme.

The cabinet heard how this is part of a drive to improve road safety and better connect Rochdale town centre to its surrounding neighbourhoods and the infirmary. Although disruption is expected during construction, this new crossing will not have a major detrimental impact on traffic flow once complete, the meeting on 23 July heard.

Councillor Shah Wazir, portfolio holder for highways, said: “This project offers safer crossing between the neighbourhood and the town centre. We often criticise our main high street in Yorkshire Street, but this will be bringing people to that area in a safer manner and opens up opportunities.

“It will help businesses and help local residents get across that road a lot safer. In the long term it will help the high street and hopefully, in the next few years, we will see new businesses moving in.”

George Lythgoe, Local Democracy Reporter