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U-turn bid to stop roads nightmare
Bethan Dorsett27/10/2007
A U-TURN could be made over the controversial decision to shut a Falinge side street – to save Rochdalians from nightmare roadworks.
The re-opening of Chaseley Road is one solution being put forward in preparation for the major work due to start at the Townhead roundabout in the new year.
There was a lot of public anger when Chaseley Road was sealed off at Falinge Road over a decade ago after residents claimed it was becoming a rat run to Spotland Road.
Now Councillor Elwyn Watkins wants to see it temporarily re-opened over fears overlapping roadworks at the Sudden roundabout and Townhead could bring Rochdale to a standstill.
He said: “Sudden will be finished in April, but I have been told of plans to shut the roundabout at weekends to install new traffic lights.
“This is due to take place in January when the restructure of Townhead, which will also include new lights, is also set to start. As the money for the work is being supplied by the government the work must be completed within a certain time limit.
“But these are two of the most busy roundabouts in Rochdale.
“The overlapping work could mean that someone travelling from Healey to Manchester could be stuck for hours in traffic.
“By opening up Chaseley Road, these drivers will be able to avoid some of the gridlock.”
Councillor Watkins put the proposal to highways officers at the Rochdale Township action committee.
The department’s boss Donald Forrester says it may be considered as an option.
He added that the council tries to ‘phase’ overlapping schemes to make sure they cause minimum disruption.
“The expectation is that the work at Sudden will be more advanced at that stage while the work at Townhead will only be in its early stages.”
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30/10/2007 at 19:40