As water has been cascading down Hyde Road, emerging near the junction with Sandheys Grove since November, it comes as no surprise that there’s a problem there today.  This time, it seems that the road is being dug up just as it started to collapse (unlike last year when they waited until it did collapse), however this means that Hyde Road is currently seriously reduced in width at this point.  I’m trying to find out how long the work is estimated to take, meanwhile if you can manage another route today is a good day to try it.

It would have been a much smaller job had the reports of this serious leak been actioned earlier.  I know that I’ve reported it several times and each time been assured of action and it’s incredibly frustrating that they seem to wait until the road starts to go before dealing with it properly.

Stop Press:  I have been told that United Utilities intend to finish this afternoon, so traffic should soon be flowing normally.  Hopefully this should happen.

I’m quite happy to be a Standard Class traveller.  Of course I’d like to be wealthy enough for First Class to be my choice, but I travel standard.  However, maybe I’m being picky but when I’ve paid (often a high price if at short notice) to travel on the West Coast Main Line to London I’d like to have a seat.  Ideally, I’d like a seat and maybe a bit of table to put stuff on.  Nothing special, space for a cup of tea and maybe a laptop, or a newspaper or a book (not being greedy, I know that I’m unlikely to get share of a table big enough to accommodate them all).  The reailty as most of us who know what the West Coast main line is like, is 4 carriages of standard class where we’re crammed like sardines with many standing for the entire journey with four empty carriages of luxury taunting us at the front.  To add insult to injury, many of those in first class who booked in adavance are paying less than some standard class passengers who had to buy a ticket on the day!  Paying nearly £200 pounds for enough standing room for a battery hen is no joke.

Now Sir Nicholas revealed an unpleasant snobbery when he talked about the “sort of people” who travel standard class.  Oddly enough we don’t like standing from London Manchester any more than he does, but the fact that conditions are not acceptable in standard class cannot be denied.  It is a pity that he didn’t choose to spend more of his many years in Parliament getting this situation rectified instead of buying a first class ticket, leaving us commoners to cram together in standard while he quietly despised us all.  His choice of words reflect badly upon him.  The conditions endured by us standard class travellers reflect very badly upon Virgin.

On August 16th 2009, Gorton joined Manchester (well really, it was the other way around of course).  The following day, the K1 Garratt was steamed in the Beyer Peacock Works.  The first engine made following the transfer to Manchester.  On Monday 17th August 2009, the same K1 Garratt, which is still in perfect working order (of course, look where it was built, after all) Will return to Gorton, first to the very spot where it was first steamed and be steamed up again precisely 100 years later, then the engine will go to the Tesco and Market Car Park and then to Brookfield Church where a tribute will be paid to Peacock, who is buried at Brookfield.

A lot of people have put in a lot of work to make this celebration of Gorton’s engineering heritage possible.  When people think of Gorton around the World, they often are looking at the plates on the engines which are still in service after decades of use.   That’s a proud history to celebrate.

Don’t forget, there’s a celebration at the Market on Saturday and Sunday 26th sees a Gorton 100 festival in Debdale Park.

Bad news has hit today on the trains.  Previously, the Government had promised that Greater Manchester’s overcrowded trains were to get 180 new carriages which would help people to use the network, which at times is unbearably overcrowded.  This included lines to the Airport, Stockport and Hyde.  They’ve now gone back on that promise, which means that there will only be 106 carriages, so the daily experience of standing from start to end will continue.

If the Government is serious about us getting off the roads and onto public transport, then the public transport will have to be allowed to have the capacity to carry us!

The new traffic lights on Hyde Road at Wellington Street are now operational.  The main effect is that traffic coming out of Manchester can no longer turn left into Wellington Street or right into Hengist Street.  From observation this afternoon, it might well be that the timings need a bit more fine tuning to deal with heavy traffic and sync with traffic coming out of Tesco, but hopefully overall this should help to reduce accidents here.

Hyde Road is now fully reopened.  There is a very large and neat patch on the road, which shows the scale of the problem.  So far, I haven’t spotted water emerging from the points where it has been flowing over the last few months, so hopefully the leaks have been solved too.  Credit must go to the people who managed to do such a massive repair in three days.

There doesn’t seem to be much good news.  It does look like the disruption is going to go on to the weekend, but there is real hope that at least one lane will be open by the evening rush hour.  I was told that the buses have been diverted via Reddish Lane or Ashton New Road, though I hope that the latter is a misprint for Ashton Old Road, otherwise it’s so far away as to not be covered by the description of “Gorton” at all!

A further update has now arrived.  Outbound traffic will be diverted via Whitwell Way, Garrett Way, Cross Lane and Tan Yard Brow.  Inbound via Reddish Lane, Longford Road West, Barlow Road and Mount Road.  Buses are using the inbound route, so personally I’d suggest getting on and off at the junction of Mount Road and Hyde Road, or the Reddish Lane junction.  It is now hoped that a single lane will be opened at about 6 tonight, but it will be traffic light controlled, so if your journey doesn’t take you into Gorton, it’s probably best to follow the diversion.

It has been obvious for some time that there are serious water leaks under Hyde Road, with water emerging at various points.  I know that I and my Liberal Democrat Colleagues have reported this on several occasions since Christmas.  Whilst I am sure that United Utilities have diligently investigated these reports, it’s noticeable how carefully they have avoided being noticed doing so by local residents.  Now a massive collapse has happened, resulting in more than a mile of Hyde Road being cut-off for traffic.  As this is a major road into Manchester and an important bus route, many people are going to be unable to get to work today and the entire Gorton District Centre is isolated.  At 7:15 this morning, the surrounding roads are at a standstill.

Although highly tempted to launch into a massive rant about United Utilities, I will instead report that I have emailed various Council Officers to try to get an estimate as to how long this is going to take and what can be done to restore bus services whilst this is going on.