Mickle Trafford Greenway Extension Now Open
Sunday, 1 November 2009 by Webmaster
Filed under Chester Cycle City News, Mickle Trafford Extension, News
The first of the major CDT infrastructure projects is now open. The long-awaited official opening of the latest section of the Chester Millennium Greenway took place on 25 October 2009.
Residents of Guilden Sutton and Mickle Trafford now have a traffic-free route into the city centre, and Chester residents have better access to the countryside to the east of the city. The new stretch includes a new pedestrian bridge over the Chester to Manchester railway line as well as a series of links and access points. These are situated in Fairfield Road, Mannings Lane (South), the A41 at Greenfield Lane, an access point near Guilden Sutton, and Station Lane, Mickle Trafford.
Work on the project started in June 2009. The 16 week scheme was funded by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) as part of REVIVE – the project which aims to reclaim 170 hectares of brownfield land in Cheshire and Warrington.
A detailed description of the route and the history of the campaign to save the route from the misguided Guided Busway proposals and to get the extension built are included in Steve Howe’s excellent Virtual Stroll website.
An active group of volunteers, Friends of the Millennium Greenway, have worked long and hard campaigning for the building of the extension. The opening of the extension is a tribute to their hard work. The group organises periodic planting and maintenance days on the Greenway. Please support these volunteer days if you can spare a couple of hours.
My family are delighted that the Greenway cycle track is now open. The stretch between Mickle Trafford and Newton is particularly attractive. Weekends are very busy with walkers and cyclists enjoying the countryside and plenty of exercise. Unfortunately, recently some thoughtless motorist parked their car at the Mickle Trafford exit completely blocking the gateway for the cyclists. Please can we have a ‘No Parking ‘ sign here or a bollard at the roadside.
What is the distance from Northgate to Mickle Trafford?
My Girlfriend, her family and I went for a walk from Newton to Guilden Sutton along the new path, it was an excellent walk for all involved, we even took a Six year old who thoroughly enjoyed all the Sculptures along the way, we walked about 6 miles in the end, coming off the path then rejoined it further down. I highly recomend this walk to everyone. Well done to all involved.
I cycled along the new path today with my family and it was a fantastic ride – safe, calm, superbly smooth tarmac and lots of like-minded people to say ‘Hello’ to. If only all cycling was as good as this! Well done to everyone concerned.