Cops could be ‘deployed’ to manage Manchester city’s Christmas traffic

More than 1.2m people travelled into town over one weekend in late November, causing a headache on the roads. Drivers reportedly blared their horns amid gridlock on some streets on November 22.

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) says a particular ‘hotspot’ for traffic is around Shudehill.

The area’s close to the exit of the Arndale multi-storey car park, a major bus station, and the Northern Quarter’s bars, all of which adds to the congestion.

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It was revealed on Tuesday (December 2) TfGM could call the cops in to help manage the situation, having already closed roads and made the multi-storey left-turn only to try and ease traffic in Shudehill.

“We have seen around Shudehill there’s an interesting hotspot for the regional centre,” Simon Elliott, a TfGM network director told a Manchester council meeting. 

“We have looked at all the traffic flow signals and we are working quite closely with GMP to deploy assets where we need to manage traffic flow at peak times, particularly for the Christmas Markets at the weekend. We have Manchester council and GMP in our control room to manage that down.”

Transport chiefs believe the situation has improved since its November 22 nadir, as ‘two key roads’ in the city reopened after roadworks.

Mr Elliott added: “From an operational perspective we have definitely seen, over the last six months, some issues. There’s significant amount of work going on in the city centre. 

“We have gone through significant Metrolink renewal period that closed two key roads in the centre. We have seen, with the removal of those roadworks, an improvement. Over the last couple of weekends we have seen better traffic flow through the city centre.”

The LDRS understands using police is a part of a plan developed by TfGM, GMP, and the council to combat queues, which became a source of frustration last Christmas. At the time, taxi drivers and local businesses blamed gridlock on Deansgate roadworks which made the thoroughfare one-way out-of-town.

However, officials said congestion was created by the sheer volume of people trying to get into town, as it was the city’s first Christmas dealing with the ever-popular markets, usual partygoers, football fans, and thousands heading to Co-op Live.

TfGM and GMP were contacted for further comment.