The ‘Manky Way’ was the first step in a huge 1960s regeneration scheme that not only looked at removing the row upon row of poorly built terraced houses from Hulme and Ardwick, but also wanted to redesign the city around a future-proof road network.
Today its a huge, noisy, hulking callback to 60s concrete modernism and not very well suited to the amount of cars on the road in the 2020s. But its culturally significant. It’s part of the city’s DNA, its skyline. Its been the backdrop to so many memories. Maybe that’s why so many Mancs have a bit of a soft spot for the old Manky Way.
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29 Comments
19:40 this guy summed it up
This road is awful but changing it to 30mph wasn’t it, the slip roads are just awful
Memories, the first carriageway/motorway I learnt to drive on over 30 years ago, helped me build up confidence to drive on faster roads.
The change in speed limit confuses people now, builds up more traffic, can be quite dangerous when merging onto the flyover when cars slow down suddenly instead of picking up speed.
Plus the new lanes on the roundabout, what was all that about🙄…took years to mess it up further…the amount of near misses due to being in wrong lanes!
Great video. I worked in Manchester and Traford and the mancky way was the bane of my working life. Further back in time I recall reading that Hulme (or was it Moss Side?) had the hightest suicide rate per capita than any other area in Europe.
Wonderful facts – great video! I'm a Spaniard living in Manchester for the last 25 years. Love stories like this of a place I call home. Good job Ollie😊
Really really enjoyed this – growing up in M/Cr, the Mancunian Way always seemed ‘special’ in that it was only ever used by “whole Family” if we were going on special trips, and needed to get to the East Lancs Road for the M61 bypassing the City in a rapid way (which was actually only a couple of junctions but seemed much more then)
One question though, Ollie – how come “Wilmslow, Hyde and ‘Ashton Old’ are Roads, yet, dear to my heart, ‘Upper Brook’ is (and remains, and I wouldn’t change it for the World) only rated as. A “Street”? 🤔
Super work (as ever) and keep ‘em comin’!
JCHK
Oooh, you came so close to using the most relevant term to this subject; 'Induced Demand'. Good work though.
Thanks Ollie, well balanced in my view, and interesting to watch. I can confirm in my hometown Hannover we have similar stories to tell. I personally think, that cities have historic roots as place for trade and traffic has increased with wealth – and there are limits to push traffic back if you want to keep the city alive.
I arrived in Manchester in the mid 70s and for the first year walked under the Mancunian way every day on the way into UMIST (RIP). I thought it funny that they chose to put the Concrete Society Award plaque in the shadow of the abortive off ramp.
Note that back then there was no crash barrier between the carriageways. I came very close to getting wiped out when a Vauxhall Cavalier came over from the opposite carriageway and slid on its side down the outside lane that I had been in only moments before.
In 1978 Manchester's road planners did finally get me when they tidal-flowed London Road without putting up any signs for pedestrians. One of my colleagues went into the Whitworth Street nick (also RIP) to say someone would get killed if they didn't do something about it and shortly afterwards I did my level best to prove him right by walking out in front of a black cab while looking the wrong way.
Great video.
1960s urban planning relegated pedestrians and cyclists to dirty, unsafe, unlit underpasses so that traffic did not have to stop for them. This kind of design is horrible and needs undoing wherever it exists. The new design of the Medlock Street / Princess is much better now than it used to be. You get what you build for. If you build for cars, you get more cars. If you build for pedestrians and cyclists, you get more pedestrians and cyclists. It's called 'induced demand'. The easier you make it to drive, means more people will decided to live further away and then drive into the city and the roads get full. It works the other way too though, the easier you make it to walk / cycle / get the train or tram, means more people will do that, and the harder you make it to drive, means less people will do it.
The only solution to this is alternatives to driving we NEED more investment in trains, trams, busses, cycling etc. I am pleased to see some of the changes that Manchester has been making, like the ones on Deansgate. We are headed in the right direction, but we need to fight off this right-wing "war against the motorist" rhetoric. I hope to see a congestion charge brought in soon. I'd rather see Manchester head in the direction of Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Paris etc. than in the direction of US or Middle Eastern cities where it's all about cars, cars, cars. The council have done a brilliant job in Chorlton, on Oxford Road, in Stretford and on Trafford Road. Imagine if in 50 years we could have most of Manchester looking like that and also have added and 20-30 tram stops as well.
Thoroughly enjoyed that. Great doc
The Gateshead Flyover (albeit much smaller) has been closed for the last 2 weeks due to crumbling concrete supports. It's the main road into Newcastle via the Tyne Bridge. Metro services south of the River Tyne are now suspended. Have you heard about this in Manchester yet, by any chance?
The Mancunian Way built in 1967 just over a mile long to bypass the streets in the south of the city centre with junctions near a former church at Chester Road to Altrincham, Princess Road for the airport and to the M6 south, A34 for Didsbury and Wilmslow, A6 for Stockport and Sheffield, and at the end A635 for Ashton under Lyne.
In October 1970 while still underconstruction the Westgate bridge Melbourne Australia collapsed. The Manc way was built using the same building methods as the Westgate. The Manc way was closed until engineers cleared it safe
The slip roads are the wrong way around. It should be off ramps first followed by on ramps. As you say because the on ramp is before the off ramp the traffic all meets at the same point. I don’t know why they don’t just fix this. Fixing it would be one of the best ways to improve journey times and air pollution in the city. Instead the council waste money on closing off roads everywhere making traffic and pollution worse. They don’t seem to understand cycling will never take off in a city where it pours with rain 364.5 days a year.
Some might say, for us the youth of Longsight/Leve, growing up in the late seventies, It was always the Gateway to Town.
As kids we would jump the open back platform on the 192 on stocky rd to use the arcades, those that know..
😉👍
Fantastic video and great insight into a road I’m always ‘on edge’ whilst driving on 🫣
Tell me about ‘L’ plates on the Mancunian Way 🤔
I used to commute between Oldham and Trafford Park every day. I remember all the pinch points and danger spots without any fondness whatsoever. During one particularly heavy rain storm, the water was pouring over the sides of the Mancunian Way onto the roads below.
Cycle under it to work 3 days a week. Try and avoid driving on it now, far too congested. But has certainly shaped lur city.
I don't mind the elevated bit, it's the surface level bits that are constraining the city and impassable
When i was akid at school myself and four others won a prize for picking the name Mancunian Way i later went to the opening and met Harold Wilson i often wonder what happened to the other four.
For an inner ring road it's a joke, mind you so is Manchester now, It's an awful place to live
Great video. Drive on it most every day. Scary for new drivers though!
Love it in the morning driving eastbound, joining at Cambridge Street, coming up into the morning sun, radio on, rising past the new park, and on into the day ahead.
Quicker going around the North circular road in London. Council have really messed up all the roads around Manchester.
Great work. It is indeed of cultural significance. I drive down it at least 3 times a week and have for many years too. l I recall the many many times it's been part of the route to a night out years before I could drive, and this sets it apart from a regular commute. But it's not pleasant to drive down.
Cheers, Ollie. I used to live just off Ashton Old Road in Openshaw. When the Mancunian Way was proposed, I remember my gran liked the name. The Mancunian Way is a play on words underlining the old adage What Manchester does today, the world does tomorrow. The 60s were full of that. It’s funny that the Mancy Way is the only thing that survives from that time, the terraced house I grew up in on Wetherby Street is still there, too, and it’s miles older than the Mancy Way… I know because I visit it when I’m over from Canada to spend some time at home.
It was built as an east west bypass and now struggles to function as part of a ring road. Eventually the M602 and M67 would have joined up with motorways along where Hyde Road and Regent Road are. If finished there would've been a motorway all the way to Sheffield and Liverpool. It was built as a 'special road' with motorway status. Have a look at sites like Pathetic Motorways. This was all linked to the 'slum' clearances.
I think it would have been nice to see a motorway built that would have gone straight through to Manchester. Including the M67 motorway that should have gone to Sheffield and meet up with M1 motorway south of Sheffield. And would have served other places including Huddersfield and Barnsley.