A long-delayed £19m road designed to ease traffic in a notoriously congested town is set to open in the spring. The 1km Rivington Chase link road in Horwich will further connect to town to the huge Middlebrook retail park and Bolton Wanderers’ Toughsheet Stadium. It will also provide a spine route for the developing area of new housing and commercial property being built on the huge former Horwich Loco Works site.
The masterplan for the site will see around 1,700 homes built in phases and there is around four hectares of employment land planned in the south east corner of Rivington Chase to create new job opportunities. It is also hoped the new road which will divert heavy traffic from Chorley New Road and the Beehive roundabout, often congested areas which have caused delays and frustration for motorists in the area for years. The potential opening date for the road was published in a Greater Manchester Combined Authority scrutiny committee report on "Delivering the Bee Network".
The report detailed changes to bus services serving Horwich once the new transport link is opened. The report said: “The 576 service will also be re-routed to serve Middlebrook once a new spine road providing a link between Horwich and Middlebrook opens in Spring, 2025.” The 576 currently runs from Horwich to Lostock, Markland Hill, Heaton and Bolton Interchange.
Government body Homes England originally approved £12m for the link road in 2018 but rising costs meant the council requested an i.