First signs of a major motorway (From Prestwich and Whitefield Guide)

First signs of a major motorway

6:46pm Wednesday 10th March 2010

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THIS week, we feature two photographs from the 1960s capturing Yorkshire Road in Whitefield and the start of something big!

Planners proposed the M62 motorway in the 1930s and work on the original road linking Greater Manchester with Yorkshire, with its dual carriageway and wide central reservation, had been halted due to the outbreak of war in 1939.

Set back on either side of Yorkshire Road were semi-detached houses which were to be demolished in June, 1968 to make way for the new planned motorway.

It would start in Liverpool and end in Hull.

It was on January 15, 1965, that the first signs of a motorway came when a mobile drilling rig appeared in Yorkshire Road.

The rig was there to collect soil and rock samples because the bridge designers for the new railway bridge and Bury Old Road had problems.

The M62 motorway was to be built in an impressive cutting, with Bury Old Road and the railway bridge being dramatically bridged in a marvellous feat of engineering.

During construction, it was necessary to demolish 123 houses and many acres in Philips Park were also destroyed. At the time, there was opposition from all sides.

Dust and noise caused problems. Lorries annoyed residents and there were many protests, petitions and rate reductions.

The main picture shows construction under way.

Finally, during October 1970, the local section of the M62 opened and the district entered a new era of vehicle transportation.

Today, the M62 is 107 miles long and about 100,000 vehicles pass through the Yorkshire section each day.

In today’s money, it cost £765 million to build.

n Information and photographs courtesy of local historian Ian Pratt.