The M67 is a short motorway in Tameside, Greater Manchester, forming an A57 bypass for the towns of Denton and Hyde.
The only sections constructed are the ones in use today, which are the Denton Relief Road (completed last - finished in 1981) and the Hyde Bypass (completed first - finished in 1978). Although the motorway was constructed as a bypass for the old A57, it never strays more than 1 mile from the original route, passing almost through the town centres of Denton and Hyde. The separate scheme are connected together by a viaduct over the River Tame and Peak Forest Canal.
Before the motorway reaches its eastern terminal at Hattersley/Mottram Roundabout (dumping the traffic into Longdendale and serving the Manchester overspill estate), there are the remmants of where the motorway would have continued eastwards. However, these will not be used in the extension scheme, as the Longdendale bypass will not have motorway status.
A similar continuation is in evidence before the M67 ends at Denton Interchange. "Ski ramps" lead into the air, where they would have continued over the whole roundabout towards an elevated section towards Manchester.
The "M67" will continue as the A57/A628 Motttram, Hollingworth and Tintwistle Bypass (more commonly known as the Longdendale Bypass), which will be an at-grade, dual carriageway road bypassing the villages. It has been mooted that additional crawler lanes will be provided, which would provide the scope to upgrade to motorway in the future, if the need arises.
Another part of the "M67" exists in South Yorkshire, as the A616 "Stocksbridge Bypass". As there was no certainty that the whole M67 scheme would ever be completed, the then Government decided that the scheme would not be built to motorway characteristics, but on the cheap as a single carriageway with crawler lanes. The poor design of (as well as poor driving on) the road has led to over 26 deaths since the road opened in 1989. Numerous debates have taken place in Parliament about what can be done to improve the road, which has led to SPECS cameras and the introduction of a 60mph speed limit. A year went by without any deaths or major injuries. Then, tragically, 2 young brothers died in their mother's vehicle, followed by 2 bikers in a further incident.
Originally the M67 Motorway was designated as the "Manchester to Sheffield All-Weather Route", when approved back in 1967. It provided a new motorway link across the Pennines, linking the two cities together by motorway, avoiding the notorious Snake and Woodhead passes, which are closed in snow-bound weather.
The scheme would have left Manchester City Centre at what was the A57(M) eastern terminal roundabout (now a flyover for the A635, constructed in 1995), following the line of the A57 Hyde Road through the inner suburbs of Ardwick, Gorton and Debdale Park. Large scale demolition took place along the line of the motorway (which is still evident today), tied in with the widening of the Belle Vue and Reddish Lane junctions.
From there it follows the present day M67 route, skirting the towns of Hyde and Denton. Upon reaching Mottram, the villages would be skirted to the north (through a tunnel), then crossing Mottram Moor to skirt Hollingworth through the Etherow valley floor. The motorway would then skirt around the side of Bottoms Resorvoir to reach Hadfield, from which the trackbed of the Woodhead Route Railway Line (the former intercity route between Manchester and Sheffield, now closed), up the Longdendale Valley to Woodhead.
At Woodhead, the route would diverge, with one carriageway entering the Woodhead Rail Tunnel (now disused) and the other rising on a sweeping viaduct to go over a realigned Woodhead Pass.
Having passed over Woodhead, the motorway would continue on a new alignment past Langsett and Midhopestones, before the Stockbridge bypass was met.
The Stocksbridge Bypass would have been constructed on its present alignment as the A616 and continued as free flowing directly onto the M1 at junction 35A, which was built specifically for the M67 to diverge from (and signposted thus).
Although the beauty of the Dark Peak area was saved by not completing the motorway, many innocent lives have been lost, in addition to damages to health, time and the environment.
