Bid to block off 'rat run' dropped amid wave of protest

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A plan to block off a traffic rat run at the centre of a Sale housing estate has been dropped amid a wave of protest. The proposal to put bollards at either end of a 300-yard stretch of Walton Road to prevent people from making short cut to avoid the busy A56 Washway Road will now go back to the drawing board.

The plan had been put forward following a consultation earlier this year by the sustainable transport organisation Sustrans and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM).Trafford council's executive committee ditched the move in the face of a 416-name petition and objections from 906 households on the Walton Road estate earlier this year.

There was also a huge turnout at a consultation meeting at the Life Centre where local people voiced their opposition to the plan. Geoff Marsh, a retired assistant director of environmental services for the authority and himself a local resident, addressed the meeting on behalf of the petitioners.

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He said the scheme would force much of the neighbourhood traffic directly onto Washway Road from Langdale Road, Eastway and Homelands Road. Mr Marsh went on: "There are three major problems with this.

"Firstly, there are very real safety issues with traffic turning right onto a very busy main road. Secondly, there will be an enormous increase in traffic through the Washway Road and Marsland Road junction.

This will cause severe problems, not just for local traffic, but also for through traffic. And lastly, the western end of Eastway is regularly congested with parked cars. This already makes travelling to the traffic signals difficult and the current traffic light sequence only allows four or five vehicles to leave Eastway in each cycle."

He said that a similar scheme to prevent