Motorists are, once again, being urged to plan ahead as Mancunian Way is set to close in both directions this weekend.
Closures will be put in place so “planned maintenance” and “safety inspections” can be carried out.
As Manchester‘s busiest road, and one of the main thoroughfares in and out of the city centre, it stands to reason that, from time to time, maintenance work and annual safety inspections have to take place to Mancunian Way to make sure journeys are as seamless as possible for everyone in the future.
This is why the local authorities claim they have worked together to “identify the weekend” where it’s likely there would be “least disruption to plans”.
ADVERTISEMENT
🚧 The Mancunian Way is closed this weekend [9/10 Sep].
Plan your weekend: – Avoid traffic and simply park and travel by tram into the city. – Use the M60 for faster cross-city journeys – Roads will be quietest before midday 👉 https://t.co/BZwUPbfSm6pic.twitter.com/62UtIMaepU
— Transport for Greater Manchester 🚲🚶🏾♀️ (@OfficialTfGM) September 6, 2023
During this weekend’s closures, some of the works due to be carried out will include safety inspections, road repairs, lighting inspections, street sweeping, drainage clearance, and general work to improve any defects, while the overall integrity of the structure will also be assessed.
Traffic is set to be affected by the closures, as you’d probably expect, but TfGM has confirmed that signed diversions will be put in place to “keep you moving”.
ADVERTISEMENT
So, where exactly will the closures be? And for how long can you expect to be affected?
TfGM has confirmed that from 5am on Saturday 9 September until 7pm on Sunday 10 September, the Mancunian Way will be closed in both directions from the Chester Road roundabout to Fairfield Street for said “planned maintenance works and safety inspections”.
Traffic will be diverted via Chester Road, Bridgewater Viaduct, Whitworth Street West, Whitworth Street, Fairfield Street, and vice versa.
ADVERTISEMENT
/ Credit: TfGM
Based on data from previous closures, TfGM says the quietest time to travel will be before midday, as traffic evels will be higher from 12pm -with the busiest time likely to be between 4pm and 7pm on Saturday and 3pm and 6pm on Sunday.
Chester Road, Regent Road, Whitworth Street, Fairfield Street and the Inner Ring Road approaching the Mancunian Way are likely to be the most impacted roads.
Using the M60 and the motorway network will likely be the fastest way to get from one side of the city to the other, but if you’re already in the city centre and looking to make a journey, then you’ll want to use the northern sections of the Inner Ring Road (Trinity Way and Great Ancoats Street) to avoid being caught in congestion on the Whitworth Street diversion route.
The Metrolink network will be your best option to “avoid expected congestion”, TfGM says, while making the most of ‘park and ride’ services is also advised.
Find out more about the planned closures on the TfGM website here.
Featured Image – Ocean Outdoor
News
95% of Mancs apparently want the city to be ‘cashless’, new study reveals
Emily Sergeant
An eye-opening new study has found that only 5% of Mancs still use cash as their preferred method of payment nowadays.
It comes as no surprise that cash is less of a ‘king’ nowadays than it used to be, but now a new report by global financial technology company SumUp has suggests that only 5% of people in Manchester prefer to pay with cash, while 59% choose debit and credit cards, so that leaves one question… is Manchester on its way to becoming a cashless city?
To discover how payment preferences are evolving, SumUp conducted a nationwide survey to gather insights from UK consumers about their payment habits.
The company was particularly intrigued to not only discover payment methods people prefer, but what their concerns around certain payment methods, alongside how they feel about businesses that don’t accept digital payments.
95% of Mancs apparently want the city to be ‘cashless’ / Credit: Mylo Kaye (via Unsplash) | Pexels
Firstly, before we go any further, it’s important to note that almost two thirds (63%) of Manchester residents said they have changed the way they make payments over the past year.
Unsurprisingly, debit and credit cards remain the top choice for the majority of Mancs, with over half (59%) saying it was their preferred method of payment, followed by mobile payment methods such as Apple Pay and Google Pay at 24% – which is likely thanks to their ease of use and the ability to have multiple cards on one device.
While a third (31%) of Mancs said that they ‘don’t mind’ cash and still opt to carry it for situations where digital payments aren’t an option, a growing number of people in the city are feel that digital payments are more favourable, with 25% thinking that businesses should adapt to modern payment methods and whilst 28% finding it ‘inconvenient’ when a business doesn’t accept digital payments.
A further 11% of people even say that cash-only businesses wouldn’t be an option they’d consider, and would actually avoid them wherever possible.
Only 5% use cash as their preferred method of payment / Credit: Rawpixel
When it comes to concerns around digital payment methods, where do Mancs stand then? Well, the survey found that a third (33%) of people are worried about their reliance on technology, especially being unable to pay if their phone dies, for example, while an additional 32% of people are concerned about security risks such as hacking, fraud, or stolen card details.
Among other things, 26% of survey respondents also said they worry about the privacy aspect of digital banking and the tracking your data.
“While debit and credit cards continue to dominate as the preferred payment method, it’s clear that cash is slowly declining in use, particularly among younger generations,” Corin Camenisch, who is the Marketing & Growth Lead at SumUp, commented on the report.
“Looking ahead, we can anticipate a rise in innovative payment methods like digital wallets, especially as younger consumers increasingly embrace the convenience and flexibility they offer.”
Featured Image – Pavel Danilyuk (via Pexels)
News
Met Office predicts UK is set for ‘hotter than average’ summer
Emily Sergeant
The Met Office is predicting that the UK is set for a ‘hotter than average’ summer this year.
Fresh off-the-back of the news that 2025 is already the hottest spring on record, with a recorded 630 hours of sunshine from 1 March until 27 May, beating out the previous sunniest spring in 2020 by just four hours, the Met Office is now predicting that the UK is on the verge of a summer that’s ‘hotter than usual’.
According to its three-month outlook, the Met Office has predicted that it’s 2.3 times more-likely than ‘normal’ that it will be hot in the UK between 1 June and 31 August.
The average temperatures during those months are set to range from 10-17°C.
🌡️ ☀️ The UK has recorded its warmest and sunniest spring on record, according to provisional Met Office statistics.
Spring 2025 is now the 4th sunniest season overall for the UK, with only 3 summers sunnier since 1910.
Details in release below, or read this short thread 👇🧵
After it was revealed that this has also been the UK’s driest spring in more than a century, meteorologists are warning Brits that there could heatwave conditions could be reached at various times throughout the summer.
The release of the long-range forecast – which gives an indication of possible temperatures, rainfall, and wind speed over a period as a whole – comes after temperatures soared to 8°C (46F) above the average for this time of year this Saturday just gone (31 May).
It is important to note, however, that the Met Office thinks these predicted temperatures are similar to those in recent years, and it does not guarantee ‘prolonged’ hot weather.
The Met Office is predicting that the UK is set for ‘hotter than average’ summer this year / Credit: Mylo Kaye (via Unsplash)
The Met Office said in a statement: “While the current three-month outlook shows an increased chance of a hot summer, the temperature signals for this summer are similar to those for recent years and consistent with our warming climate.
“The increased chance of hotter than average temperatures is not a guarantee of prolonged hot weather or heatwaves, but it does mean that heatwave conditions could be reached at times.
“However, it’s important to bear in mind that an increased chance of hot conditions could also reflect a mix of hot and cool days, warm nights, or less extreme levels of warmth rather than continual heatwave conditions specifically.”
Emily Sergeant -
7th September 2023 
