THE SELNEC TRANSPORTATION PLAN FOR 1984

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SU BURBAN RAILWAY LINES TO BE IMPROVED & UPGRADED

DISUSED RAILWAY LIN E (BOLTON- RA DCLIFFE) TO BE REINSTATED FOR SUBURBAN PASSENGER SERVICE

PROPOS ED UNDERGROUND RAILWAY-SEE INSET

POSSIBLE SUP PLEMENTA RY PASSENGER RAILWAY LINES FOR· INTER-URBAN SERVICES

PROPOSED MOTORWAYS & MAJOR RESTRICTED ACCESS ROADS

OTH ER PROPOSED NEW OR IMPROVED ROADS

MOTO RWAYS & RESTRICTED ACCESS ROADS UNDER CONSTRUCTION OR COMPLETED IN MARCH 1971

OTHER NEW OR IMPROVED ROADS UNDER CONSTRU CTION OR COMPLETED IN MARCH 1971

EXISTI NG TRUNK & PRINCIPAL ROADS

OTHER ROADS OF TRAFFIC SIGNIFICANCE

PROPOSED BUSWAYS

PROPOSED PASSENGER CONVEYORS-SEE INSET

STUDY AREA BOUNDARY

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Inset showing proposals for Central Manchester

March 1971

Based upon the Ordnance Survey Map with the sanction of the Controller of H.M . Stationery Office. Crown Copyright·1eserved.

Printed in England by The William Mortis P1tJss Limited, Longley Lane, Wythenshawe, Manchester, M22 4SL

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Bolton

Mauldeth Rd

Burnage

East Didsbury

Gatley

Heald Green

Styal

Not to scale

A523 Di11e r s ion

Radcliffe

Whitefield

Besses o'th' Barn

Prestwich

Heaton Park

Bowker Vale

Crumpsall

Woodlands Rd

Victoria

Market St -J.­Albert Square -r­

Princess St -I­Piccadilly

Cheadle

Hulme

Handforth

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Heaton Chapel &-Stockport

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Alderley Edge

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Track diagram of Ii nes serving the Piccadilly 7Victoria tunnel

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SELNEC TRANSPORTATION A Broad Plan for 1984

INTRODUCTION

The SELNEC conurbation and the Merseyside conurbation together form the major urban settlements of

north west England. Bounded by the Pennines to the north and east, and by the Lancashire and Cheshire green

belts to the south and west, the SELNEC conurbation houses some 2t million people. The 413 square mile area

covered by the Transportation Study corresponds broadly to that of the conurbation- see n1ap overleaf. The

study area contains the county boroughs of Bol ton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford and Stockport

together with all or parts Of 55 other local authorities in the administrative counties of Cheshire and Lancashire.

The SELNEC Transportation Study started in 1966 following a suggestion by the then Minister of Transport

t hat the right basis for dec isions· about future roads in towns and the best balance between public and private

transport would be a comprehensive transportation study in each of the nation's main conurbations. This would

enable an objective assessment to be r;nade of the adequacy of exist ing road and public transport systems and

planned improvements to them in relation to the growth of t raffic, the likely changes in land use, the distribution

of population and employment and other simi lar factors.

The first stage of the Study was completed in· 1971 at a tota l cost of about £600,000- approximately 0·2%

of the estimated cost of the recommended transport system.

One problem which faced the Study was an assessment of the amount of money w hich might realistically

be expected to be available for investment in transport infrastructure in the futu re. Adv ice was given by the then

Ministry of Transport that it might be assumed for the purposes of t he Study that over the period up to 1984

the funds available for highways and public transport infrastructure would be of the order of £250M.

Given this guidance on the probable level of investment, the Transportation Study developed alterrnative

transportation systems, each of which went some way toWards the establishment of appropriate highway and

public transport networks for the area- although, of course, no 'ideal' system could be devised because of the

budget constraint. The networks tested varied in total cost between £212M and £252M, and the alloca ti1on of

these total costs ranged between 12% and 45% investment in public transport with the balance spent on road

construction.

The choice between the alternative networks was made on the basis of a procedure known as cost benefit

analysis, in which the benefits which might be produced by each system were divided by _its capital cost to give

a rate of return for the investment. Network capital costs were not very difficult to estimate, but the determinat ion

of potential benefits was far more difficult. In the SELN EC Study, benefits were determined by a series of computer

programs collectively known as a 'mathematical model of travel behaviour'. Given a description of the character­

istics of the study area, this mathematical n1odel is able to calculate the way 'in which any transportation system

would be used by the people of the area. Thus, if two transportation systems are tested by t he model-say the

existing system and a proposed new system-it is possible to estimat e the benefits which users of the new

system would enjoy.

STUDY AREA CHARACTERISTICS-1966and1984

The relevant characteristics of the existing population of the study area are known from an extensive series

of field surveys which was undertaken in 1966 (the starting date of the Study}. In designing transportation .

systems for the 1980s, it was decided that they should be devised to maximise benefits to the people who will

inhabit the area at that time. A detailed forecast was therefore made of principal characteristics which the study

area may have in the 1980s. The outcome of this work is summarised in Figure 1.

TRAVEL PATTERNS IN THE STUDY AREA

The travel patterns which exiSted in the study area in 1966 (as revealed by the field surveys) are compared

in Figure 2 with those which· were forecast to occur in 1984. This figure, which illustrates all journeys throughout

the study area, demonstrates the growth of travel which will result from increased car .ownership. However, the

Broad Plan does not provide· for full access by private car, in the peak period, to the major town and city centres

of the region, especially central Manchester. Figure 3 illustrates the comparatively stable position in respect

of the relative use of cars and public transport for morning peak work trips to central Manchester. Within

the public transport sector the figure shows how the emphasis will be displaced from p1·edominantly bus

orientated travel to an equal division of travellers between bus and rail.

THE BROAD TRANSPORTATION PLAN- SUMMARY OF PROPOSALS

After the evaluation of alternative systems had been completed, a Broad Transportation Plan, comprising

complementary highway and public transport networks for 1984, was· selected. This recommended Plan is

shown on the map overleaf. It is estim8ted that the cost of the rec.ommended highway network is about £2.11 M.

The total cost of all major highway schemes-that is to say schemes costing more than £0·25M each-which

are included in the Plan amounts to £186M. The balance of the estimated highway network cost is made up

of allowances of £20M for traffic management and minor improvement schemes, and of £!3M for local bus

.priority schemes on the highway network.

Of the £186M allowed for major schemes, the following each had a capital cost in excess of £5M:

Plan Reference

A

B

c D

E

F

G

H

J

A560 Bredbury By-Pass

A663 Broadway extension

A34 diversion, Handforth/Witmslow By-Pass

A560 diversion, Stockport

Outer Ring Road-Eastern Section . ..

Bury Easterly By-Pass

A6 diversion, Stockport and Hazel Grove

A57 Hyde and Denton By-Passes

M602 Salford/Eccles Motorway

Manchester and Salford Inner Ring Road

£5·3M

£6·2M

£6·2M

£8·4M

£9·5M

£1 O·OM

£1 O·SM

£12·3M

£14·5M

£15·6M

The recommended railway network includes an electrified tunnel between Piccadi lly and Victoria Stations

1n central Manchester with three proposed intermediate underground stations-Princess Street, Albert Square

and Market Street-and the re-establishment and electrification of a link between Bolton and Radcliff e via

Bradley Fold. The network would also involve the upgrading and improvement of thirteen existing suburban

railway lines. Improvements proposed for these lines include the provision of more frequent t rain services and

integrated feeder bus routes, the modernisation of station build ings, the provision, where appropriate, of car

parki.ng accommodation at stations, direct feeder bus access to stations and all necessary track and signal works.

The Plan's main proposals for bus services are for their complete rationalisation and co-ordination wit h the

upgraded railway system. Two busways- roads reserved for the exclusive use of buses- are also included.

These are the Trafford Park Busway linking the Manchester to Altrincham railway line with the Trafford Park

industrial area and the Buxton line busway linking Hazel Grove station with the eastern boundary of the study

area . . It is also recommended that the possibility of safeguarding a busway alignment in the Ringway/La1ngley

travel corridor should receive further consideration.

The.Study evaluated the benef its of a passenger conveyor (travelator) syst em in central Manchester. Although

no fina l conclusion was reached about such a system, it vyas considered that passenger conveyors had great

poten ti al benefits and that further and more detailed studies of the~ were warranted on the basis of the riesu lts

produced so far. An allowance of £5M was made fbr a possible passenger conveyor system.

The total cost of the recommended public transport network is estimated at about £41 M , exclusive of the

£5M allowed for bus priority measures in the highway network. The netwOrk would also involve substantial

expenditure in new public transport rolling stock.

The estimated cost of all of the proposals recommended in the Broad Plan, apart from public transport

rolling stock and car parking facilities, is:

£M

H'ighway Network. 211

Pu.bl ic Transport Network 41

Total £252M (at 1968 money value)

This total cost implies that the proposals could all be completed by about 1984 at the rate of expenditure

assumed by the Study.

The map shows that the Plan's major hig.hway proposals serve to link the principal sub-centres of the

region, both to each other and to the national motorway system. It also shows that potential highway trips are

catered for in most major travel corridors, other than certa in radial corridors of movement to central Manchester,

where it would be impracticable on grounds of cost, land· requirement and environment, to provide road. capacity

for all potential car trips. The highway network would enable most medium/long distance car trips to take

.advantage of the proposed motorway system and hence reduce travel times for iiiany journeys by car. At the

same time the attraction of traffic by the motorways would be such that it is probable that t raffi c congestion

on the existingj general purpose street system would not differ to any great extent from the present day. Thus,

it is predicted that traffic congestion may be held at present day levels even though there will be more than

twice as many cars per mile of road in the area by 1984. The rail based public transport system is shown on the

map to be strongly orientated towards the central Manchester area. It would provide excellent access to and

w ithin this centre and would cater mainly for those radial movements for which extensive highway provision is

not proposed in the Plan.

It is thought that the network proposed in the Plan would provide a fully integrated and viable t ransportation

system for the study area in the 1980s, that it would be operationally feasible, and would ·produce significant

benefits in a climate ·of rapidly incre·asing car ownership.

FIGURE 1- STUDY AREA CHARACTERISTICS -1966 AND 1984

Popu lation

J o bs

Mean ho useh o ld i ncome (1966 m o ney va lue}

Cars

Person s per car

Mileage o f major ro.ads

Cars per mi le o f maj o r r oad

Car ownersh i p by h o usehold

1966-2.596.000

1984-2.708,000

1966-1.265,000

1984-1.238,000

1966- £1 ,100 p.a .

1984- £ 2,100 p .a.

1966-369,000

1984- 945,000

1966-7

1984-3

1966-1.000

1984- 1 ,200

1966-386

1984-798

1966 no c ar 1 ca r m ore than 1

1984 no car 1 car m ore t ha n 1

63% 33%

ca r 4o/o

25% 50%

c ar 25%

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FIGURE 2 - TOTAL DAILY TRIPS IN THE STUDY AREA

CAR

1966-2·4 M t r ips

Other trips 63%

1984-5·3 M trips

Other trips 63%

PUBLIC TRANS PORT

1966-2·0 M trips

Other trips 49%

1984-1 ·5M t r ips

Othe r trips 55%

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FIGURE 3- MORNING PEAK (7.0 -9.0 a.m.) WORK TRIPS TO CENTRAL MANCHESTER ( Approx i mile radius from Town Hall )

1966 1984 121,000 t rips 111,000 trips

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