The route will mostly be on the trackbed of part of the old Liverpool & Bury Railway.
From what I can gather, the route will start from Scholey Street on an industrial estate in Bolton - not ideal because of the heavy lorries using the road. The route will then be off road on the old railway line over St Peter's Way on the Burnden Viaduct then over the Darcy Lever Viaduct over the River Tonge. From there it will go along or alongside Gorses Road and divert off the railway route through New House Farm playing fields and back onto the railway line where it reaches the boundary with Bury.
Soon after the railway route is lost at Boundary Drive and Boundary Street in Bradley Fold, but can be rejoined on an existing path for a short way the other side of Bradley Lane. The path is then planned to run along the railway route to another interruption at Black Lane and then rejoining the route the other side to join up with the existing Daisyfield Greenway (photo below) to reach Bury.
If anyone has any more details about this route, I'm curious to know when it is planned to open.
Some old photos of the route.
Right now, work is progressing on the viaducts and connecting pathways. The paths leading from scholey st to the bridge and from the east side of the bridge to lower darcy st have had their base layers laid and compacted.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like they're building a new small bridge from the darcy lever viaduct straight over lower dacry st, so cyclists can avoid the dip. The viaducts are also having a new flat asphalt surface, as right now they're concrete with large central reserves.
The new house farm playing fields path has been completed, to the point where it connects to hollycroft ave. About 3 metres wide, smooth asphalt. As is typical for Sustrans it's shared use throughout, so there are many times during the day you have to slow down for dog walkers and peds. Also they have put many wooden bollards in the centre of the path at various points along it, with small shared use signs on them.
I have complained to the council about the dangers of them, with no response.
K-barriers at some entrances, but wide enough to fit through without slowing down much.
I can provide photos if you want?
Look forward to the linking of the Daisyfields Greenway and Ainsworth Road, riding to Bury centre will be fast and 100% segregated!
ReplyDeleteWeirdly this linkage is already marked on Google Maps, but I've tried it - it's blocked at the Ainsworth Road end by buildings, and the end of Daisyfields leads you through a heap of trees and to a bridge stuck in the way.
Did anyone ever find out when this is supposed to open? Still can't find anything about it online except "planned".
ReplyDeleteI rode the section from behind Bolton Police Station, off Manchester Road, to Long Lane, by Leverhulme Park, today.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to some photos (on Flickr) from that section - https://www.flickr.com/photos/rickheath/sets/72157655668252505
Thanks for that Rick. I took a drive down Scholey St the other day but it's hard to tell in a car if they've done anything. Looks good. Might give it a whirl soon. And that's a barrier I can support. Looks like a bike can get through easily enough for a change.
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