Newbrook Road closure - day 2

The Latest: Newbrook Road (A579) enters its second day of being shut yet the horror and the violence has yet to abate. As this reporter offed to the shop to buy lunch, I walked past grown men crying in the street and young children acting disenfranchised, walking into betting shops, smoking cigarettes and working in unsatisfying jobs. Earlier today an unidentified Irish woman (UIW) exploded in anguish at the thought of having to use a footbridge.

People on the estate were given no warning about the closure of Marlborough Road. Most have now gone more than 52 hours without food. No-one has yet reminded them there's two roads onto the estate.

The councils northern turning circle left a lot to be desired. Although the removal of all the curbing round the corner means it can be entered into the hat for the Alan Turing Turning Circle Of The Year award which is this year held in the lovely city of Turin
.

 Vandalism!

Panoramarama

 Temporary bus teminus. The man waiting for the bus let out a volly of bile as I walked past.

Backstory: “AN EXTRA 10,000 vehicles a day will soon be pouring into a busy Westhoughton road, bringing traffic chaos to the town.

And residents have been warned the problems the extra traffic will bring could last for several months as roadworks get under way in neighbouring Atherton.

Bolton Road in Atherton will be closed for around 12 weeks from Monday, September 12, while the crumbling railway bridge is replaced.

The road is the main route into Bolton from Leigh and Atherton, via Newbrook Road, which figures show is used by around 20,000 drivers every day.

Once the works begin and the road is closed, many of those vehicles will be diverted through Westhoughton, either down Platt Lane or Leigh Road, both of which feed into Park Road, which is already congested at peak times.

Councillor David Wilkinson said there could potentially be up to 10,000 extra cars using Park Road every day as drivers battle to get into Bolton.

He said: “The cars will back up into Westhoughton and stretch back towards Hart Common and Atherton and in the evenings it’s going to be worse because a lot of traffic will collide with the motorway traffic.

“It’s going to have a huge impact on Westhoughton, there are no ifs and buts, all that traffic is going to come this way. I don’t know any other way around it, other than Cleggs Lane, Little Hulton, but that’s a long way around.

For every one car on Platt Lane trying to get on to Park Road there are 10 on Park Road so it will be a massive struggle getting out.”

According to traffic count surveys carried out in 2005 to 2006, around 22,000 vehicles use Park Road every day.

Sandra Williams, who lives on Green Common Lane, off Platt Lane, believes the extra cars will pose a danger at the junction with Park Road.

She said: “Another thing that exacerbates the problem is the new test centre at Gibfield Park Avenue because we’re now getting a lot of leaner drivers going down Platt Lane and trying to get out of the junction at Park Road.

“There will be a lot of cars trying to get out on to Park Road and there may be people taking extra risks to get out at a difficult time when people are going out shopping for Christmas.”

Wigan Council, which has warned of disruption but said it is aiming to manage the problem as best it can, expects the works will be completed by mid-December.”