The Western Gateway Infrastructure Scheme

The Western Gateway Infrastructure Scheme (WGIS) is a major highway scheme in the vicinity of Barton Bridge, where the M60 crosses the Manchester Ship Canal. Its purpose is to segregate traffic between “through” and local movements, which facilitates the further development of strategic sites on either side of the canal.

WGIS involves the construction of an opening bridge adjacent to the motorway, with connections to the A57 near Irlam and into Trafford Park near to The Trafford Centre. Associated with this new cross-canal route, are the closures of some motorway slip roads and the introduction of connections between the new route and the existing motorway junctions. To facilitate better merging movements onto the motorway, there will also be some locations with additional narrow lanes, replacing hard shoulders.

This is one of the largest motorway-related schemes in the north of England and the most complex and largest funded by the private sector. Barton Bridge and the adjacent sections of the M60 is one of the busiest sections of the motorway network, with around 140,000 vehicles per day, with the added complications of very closely spaced junctions and a high mix of local movements.
It will improve the flow of traffic on the motorway, with less local traffic and slip road interference, increase the capacities of the motorway junctions for local trips and enables strategic development, catering for its additional traffic.

The new canal crossing and local feeder roads will also open up accessibility to the major Trafford Bus Station / Interchange at the Trafford Centre, without the need to use the motorway.

This is the culmination of several years of joint working with the highway authorities, looking into the future with the aid of state-of-the-art computer modelling of this complex, highly loaded, traffic network.

Also looking into the future, WGIS is designed to carry an extension to the currently proposed Metrolink network from Trafford Park over the Canal into Salford. This would initially terminate at the Barton Strategic Employment Site (Port Salford and the Salford City Reds Stadium), with the eventual aim to loop around to join the existing Eccles line.

WGIS is estimated to cost £25 million and will be delivered in stages over several years.