Major changes coming as part of plans to relieve traffic on the M65 in Lancashire
Major changes are coming in Lancashire as plans to relieve traffic on the M65 get underway.
A £30 million upgrade to tackle traffic congestion at M65’s Junction 5, near Guide, has begun.
The M65 works include widening of the junction’s southbound and northbound exit slips from two lanes to three, and the entry slips in each direction will also be widened to allow for segregated left turn lanes for traffic entering the motorway from both the east and the west.
The B6232 Grane Road and A6077 Haslingden Road, on either side of Junction 5, will ALSO be widened to allow for similar left turn lanes for northbound and southbound M65 traffic.
The roundabout’s circulatory road markings will then be amended, increasing the lane capacity from two lanes to three, and intelligent traffic signals will be installed with ‘queue flushes’ on the M65 motorway off-slips and bus priority detection to give greater priority to buses.
Will the motorway works affect anything else?
A Blackburn public footpath is also set to be scrapped because of the £30 million upgrade at M65’s Junction 5.
Councillors have been asked to approve the move because the extra lane being installed will make it too dangerous for pedestrians to cross the carriageway.
On Thursday night Blackburn with Darwen Council’s planning and highways committee will be asked to start the legal process of ‘extinguishing’ the public right of way for footpath 94A.
A planning officer’s report to Thursday’s meeting says: “The purpose of the report is to seek committee approval for a public path extinguishment order under the Highways Act 1980 to stop up public footpath 94A Blackburn
“Historically Public Footpath 94A Blackburn ran from Haslingden Road in an easterly direction across fields to Bridleway Number 166 at a point adjacent to Walker Road.
“In the late 1990’s the path was dissected by the link road (A6077) connecting Junction 5 of the M65 through to the junction of Blackamoor Road with Haslingden Road.
“This was initially a three-lane road (two inbound and one outbound) but around 2015 an extra lane was added in the outbound direction meaning that walkers using the path had to cross four lanes of live traffic.
“Even with four lanes the road is often subject to severe congestion and this year a further scheme is being promoted to add yet another extra lane on the outbound approach to the M65 roundabout from Blackamoor Road.
“Whilst this will not directly increase the width of road crossing required to traverse FP94A Blackburn, it will increase the overall capacity of the road making crossing even more difficult.
“Site constraints mean that a pedestrian refuge cannot be provided between the westbound and eastbound carriageways to assist walkers with the crossing.
“From the start point on Haslingden Road walkers can however gain access to the point where FP94A leaves the link road heading westward towards Walker Road by using a route along adopted highway and using the controlled crossing points at the Blackamoor Road and Haslingden Road junction to cross safely.
“To further assist walkers using this route, the western adopted verge between the junction and FP94A Blackburn will be converted to a surfaced footway.
“With the above in mind the council’s growth and development team, who are promoting the M65 junction improvement scheme, have in the interests of public safety applied to have FP94A to the east of the link road stopped up.”