Manchester Road showing the left turn onto the new link road.

Construction of the 2.2km road began in Spring 2021 by civils contractor John Sisk and Son, connecting junction 19 at Heywood and Middleton to the new development opportunities being created and enhancing the access to existing employment sites at Heywood and Hareshill Distribution Parks.

The new A6184 will bring major benefits to the area by rerouting heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) away from Heywood town centre, Birch and Bowlee, significantly reducing congestion in these residential areas. It's also expected to save an estimated 4,700km per day of journeys by providing HGV drivers with a direct route from the motorway into the business parks rather than their current route, via Simister Island.

The new link road is the linchpin of the £400m South Heywood masterplan, a pioneering regeneration programme brought forward by Russell LDP, as land promoter and master developer.

It will unlock development opportunities and support the creation of 1,000 new homes, a new primary school and 1.45m sq ft of employment space in South Heywood. Around 2,800 jobs are expected to be created in the long term, with more to follow as the wider Northern Gateway project progresses.

It's great to see this game-changing scheme progressing so quickly. We are lucky to benefit from strong transportation links, but we want to improve them and ensure they work for everybody, regardless of where they live in the borough.

This new road is a key part of our plan to overhaul transport provision across the borough, and put our residents in the best possible position to benefit from the proposed employment and wider economic opportunities that the South Heywood masterplan will bring.
Councillor Daniel Meredith, Cabinet Member for Highways, Rochdale Borough Council

The link road has been a long-held ambition for this area and will unlock the development of much-needed new homes and highly desirable employment spaces as part of the South Heywood masterplan. We are pleased, after many years of planning, to see the link road project on track and on programme.
Daniel Kershaw, Director, Russell LDP

Approximately 3km of new walking and cycling routes will be delivered as part of the new infrastructure, and the new road will enable the provision of bus services to serve the new proposed scheme and existing business parks.