Town centre road reopens

The road had been closed for 19 months while contractors refurbished Oldham Way and the bridges under the road – one of the largest, and most complex, highways project the council has carried out in many years.

Councillor Arooj Shah, Leader of Oldham Council, said: “This news will be welcomed by a lot of people – including me.

“Over the last few months, I’ve had loads of calls and emails asking when we’ll be opening the road because it is such a well-used route.

“Unfortunately, when our teams started repairing the bridge they discovered it was in a worse state than anticipated and work was going to take a lot longer than originally planned.

“We can only apologise to residents and drivers for the disruption that the closure has caused.”

The work on the bridge, and nearby Wellington Street bridge, was part of a wider Oldham Way refurbishment scheme, paid for thanks to £4.174m of funding the council successfully secured from central government.

Both lanes on Oldham Way have been open for a number of months but over the coming weeks a number of overnight closures – when traffic is quiet – will be needed to finish of some snagging works.

We will let residents and drivers know when this will take place.

Streetlight work will also be carried out at the same time to keep any further disruption to a minimum.