M67 motorway

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M67 motorway
Length	5 miles 8 km
Direction	West - East
Start	Denton
Primary destinations	None
End	Warhill
Construction dates	1978 - 1981
Motorways joined	1 - M60 motorway

The M67 is a short motorway in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, forming an A57 bypass for the towns of Denton and Hyde. It was originally conceived as part of a trans-Pennine motorway route linking Manchester and Sheffield but these plans never came to full fruition.

Originally the M67 was designated as the "Manchester to Sheffield All-Weather Route", when approved in 1967. It was to provide a second motorway link across the Pennines to the south of the M62 and link the two cities together by motorway avoiding the Snake and Woodhead passes, which are often closed in snowy weather.

1 Intended route
2 In reality
3 Junctions
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Intended route

The scheme would have left Manchester City Centre at what was the A57(M) motorway eastern terminal roundabout (now a flyover for the A635, constructed in 1995), following the line of the A57 Hyde Road through the inner suburbs of Ardwick, Gorton and Debdale Park. Large-scale demolition took place along the line of the motorway (which is still evident today), tied in with the widening of the Belle Vue and Reddish Lane junctions.

From there the intended route follows the present-day M67, skirting Hyde and Denton. Upon reaching Mottram, the route passed the village to the north (through a tunnel), then crossed Mottram Moor to skirt Hollingworth through the Etherow valley floor. The motorway would then have run around the side of Bottoms Reservoir to reach Hadfield, from which the trackbed of the Woodhead railway line (the former intercity route between Manchester and Sheffield, now closed) was to have been followed up the Longdendale valley to Woodhead. At Woodhead, the route would have diverged, with one carriageway entering the Woodhead Rail Tunnel (now disused) and the other rising on a sweeping viaduct to go over a realigned Woodhead Pass.

Beyond the Pennine watershed, the motorway would have continued on a new alignment past the villages of Langsett and Midhopestones, before meeting the route of the current Stocksbridge Bypass.

The Stocksbridge Bypass would have been constructed on its present alignment and continued directly onto the M1 at junction 35a, which was built specifically as a junction with the M67 (and signposted thus).

See external link below at Pathetic Motorways for detailed maps of the believed route.

[edit] In reality

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The only sections constructed are those in use today: the Denton Relief Road (completed last — in 1981) and the Hyde Bypass (completed first — in 1978). Although the motorway was constructed as a bypass for the old A57, it never strays more than a mile from the original route, passing almost through the town centres of Denton and Hyde. The separate schemes are connected by a viaduct over the River Tame and Peak Forest Canal.

Before the motorway reaches its eastern terminal at Hattersley/Mottram roundabout (where traffic continues along the A57 into Longdendale), there are the remnants of where the motorway would have continued eastwards.

A similar continuation is in evidence before the M67 ends at Denton Interchange. "Ski ramps" lead into the air, where the carriageways would have continued over the roundabout towards an elevated section towards Manchester.

A currently planned road scheme is the A57/A628 Mottram, Hollingworth and Tintwistle Bypass or Longdendale Bypass which will continue from the current end of M67 and form an extension of sorts; however, it is planned to be built as an at-grade, dual-carriageway road. According to current plans the new road will not make use of the existing remnants of the planned motorway at the Mottram roundabout.

Another part of the originally planned "M67" exists in South Yorkshire, as the A616 Stocksbridge Bypass which opened in 1989. As there was no certainty that the whole M67 scheme would be completed by this time, the then Government decided that the scheme would not be built with motorway characteristics, but as a single carriageway with crawler lanes. There have been more than 26 deaths since the road opened. Numerous debates have taken place in parliament about possible improvements to the road, which led to the installation of SPECS speed cameras and the introduction of a 60mph speed limit. A year went by without any deaths or major injuries. Then, two young brothers died in their mother's vehicle, followed by two bikers in a further incident.

[edit] Junctions

M67 Motorway
Eastbound exits	Junction	Westbound exits
Sheffield, Mottram, Glossop A57 (A628) Hyde, Stockport A560	Terminus	Start of motorway
Hyde A57	J3	Hyde A57
No exit	J2	Denton A57
Denton A6017	J1A	No exit
Start of Motorway	J1/ M60 J24	Oldham, Rochdale Stockport, Manchester Airport M60 City Centre A57

[edit] See also

List of motorways in the United Kingdom

[edit] External links

	Motorways in the United Kingdom
Great Britain: M1 • M2 • M3 • M4 • M5 • M6 • M6 Toll • M8 • M9 • M10 • M11 • M18 • M20 • M23 • M25 • M26 • M27 • M32 • M40 • M42 • M45 • M48 • M49 • M50 • M53 • M54 • M55 • M56 • M57 • M58 • M60 • M61 • M62 • M65 • M66 • M67 • M69 • M73 • M74 • M77 • M80 • M90 • M180 • M181 • M271 • M275 • M602 • M606 • M621 • M876 • M898
A1(M) • A3(M) • A38(M) • A48(M) • A57(M) • A58(M) • A64(M) • A66(M) • A74(M) • A167(M) • A194(M) • A308(M) • A329(M) • A404(M) • A601(M) • A627(M) • A823(M)

	Northern Ireland: M1 • M2 • M3 • M5 • M12 • M22 • A8(M)	edit

Past: M16 • M41 • M63 • A18(M) • A40(M) • A41(M) • A102(M) • A6144(M) Unbuilt: M12 • M13 • M15 • M31 • M64 Future: M4 Toll