Manchester Simister M60, M66 and M62 interchange £138m project awarded
Smoother, safer journeys through one of the region’s busiest motorway-to-motorway junctions are a step nearer after the award of the contract for the £138 million project.
Highways England, which is responsible for the plans to improve Simister Island interchange – which serves the M60, M66 and M62 – has appointed Costain to design and manage the construction of the junction improvement.
The scheme will provide a direct link from the eastbound to southbound clockwise M60 for the first time – removing a significant number of vehicles from the roundabout itself. A free-flow link from the northbound to westbound anti-clockwise M60 will also be built and providing more room on the southbound M66 will help drivers join the eastbound M62 and negotiate the roundabout for M60 access more easily.
Highways England project manager Nicola Eastwell said: “We’re really pleased to now have a delivery partner on board for this major improvement. After we announced the preferred options for the improvements in January we’re looking forward to working with Costain and design partner Jacobs to deliver a further consultation at the end of the year and – subject to approval – get construction off the ground before the end of 2025.”
Malcolm Bell, Costain programme director, said: “This is a critical project supporting economic growth in the North of England. We are pleased to contribute to the development of the local area by connecting communities and bringing additional benefits such as skills and employment events, helping to support the needs of the local area.”
The Simister Island scheme will improve the journey experience for users of this section of network by:
- reducing peak congestion and providing faster average speeds
- reducing journey times
- delivering more reliable journey times
The Simister Island interchange is one of the busiest motorway junctions in the north-west, used by around 90,000 vehicles each day. The junction struggles with high volumes of traffic, far above what it was designed for, and as a result suffers from congestion and poor journey time reliability.
A public consultation on the scheme is now being planned for this winter, and a planning application is due to be submitted next year. If the plans are approved by the government then work on the project could start by spring 2025.
More details on the scheme are available here.
