A6(M) Stockport North-South Bypass (east)

Where is it?

Nowhere

OK, what's going on then?

This is one of those "Motorways that never were"..

So where would it have been?

Stockport, Cheshire.

It would have met what is now the M60 at junction 25.

Can you show me that on a map?

Certainly!

When was it planned?

Well, that's a long story. It first appears in 1945, within the Manchester & District Plan as part of the Manchester Outer Ring Road, then again in the 1962 SELNEC Highways Plan. It stays on the back burner all the way through the 1960s and 1970s, though in the late 1970s, the decision was taken that this should no longer be part of the Outer Ring Road, but a stand-alone part of the motorway network, relieving the A6, which runs pretty much right through the centres of Stockport and Hazel Grove.

It does have to be said, though, that it's not actually that brilliant at relieving the A6 itself, just traffic through the urban areas that's heading for the motorway network. It was finally killed off as a national scheme in 1998, with the Labour Government's "New Deal for Trunk Roads" plans after seemingly being constantly close to being built throughout the previous twenty years. It was really always the bridesmaid, never the bride...

Is it ever going to be built?

Perhaps, although not as a motorway. The scheme has reappeared recently, but most likely as an all-purpose road with such things as roundabouts, traffic lights and a 40mph speed limit...

You mentioned M60 junction 25. That's a really odd junction, isn't it?

Yes, the M60 carriageways split and go round a tight corner. That's because the northern part of M60 was formerly M66, which would have carried straight through the junction and onto the A6(M).

A couple of small parts of unused tarmac is all that is was ever built of the A6(M), but it does exist! It also explains why there's an entry on the right hand side heading northbound at that junction - the entry from the A560 roundabout should join the A6(M) normally on the left hand side, with the former M63 merging to meet the main through-route from the A6(M) to the former M66. Of course, it doesn't help that the M63 itself was missing its eastern section, bypassing Bredbury...

Are there any photographs?

There's a small gallery of the little bit of tarmac that does exist!

Have you got a map that I could look at that includes the A6(M) on it?

Yes, I have some scans from an early 1990s Manchester A-Z.

Can I comment on this motorway?

Of course! Contact me and I'll put them here!

Have any other visitors commented?

Yes - they can be seen on the comments page.

A6(M)

Stockport North-South Bypass (east)

County:

Cheshire

Planned length:

4.5 miles

7 km

Built:

Never

Status:

Unbuilt

Media:

Photo Gallery

Contemporary Map

Map Links:

Might Have Been Map

Present Day Map