Oldham’s trams vision for Mumps
Reporter: Karen Doherty
Date published: 24 February 2011
This is the first look at how Mumps will look when the Metrolink rolls into town.
The image shows the road layout when long-awaited extension to Oldham and Rochdale is completed.
Trams will run to Mumps station this autumn before the continuation of the line to Rochdale opens next spring. A town-centre section will then take passengers along Union Street from spring, 2014.
The area outside the section circled in red shows the current Mumps roundabout transformed into a junction for drivers and trams. Vehicles will still be able to access the town centre from here, but a new link road at the former B&Q car park will also take drivers from the by-pass to Union Street.
Trams will no longer cross the junction when the town centre extension opens. Instead, the central section shows how the line will divert though the town centre.
By then there will also be a new Mumps station with about 250 park and ride spaces at the B&Q site and stops in Union Street King Street and Westwood. A section of Union Street at Sainsbury’s will be closed to traffic and the route around is still to be finalised. The plans were unveiled by council and transport bosses yesterday.
Councillor John McCann said: “It’s on its way. An awful lot of people in Oldham and in other places have said it’s a dream and will never happen. It is happening.
“This is a massive step forward and a massive chance for Oldham to put itself on the map.”
He hopes that a Metrolink station at Derker will help boost regeneration there. Superfast broadband cables are being installed along the tram route and Councillor McCann said that several “large players” were looking at Mumps.
“It is a massive chance for the Mumps area. What we have got to avoid is going for the cheap option. We need to look long-term, we want quality,” he added.
A mixture of new and refurbished trams will be used on the extension.
Metrolink director Philip Purdy described the new Mumps interchange as world class and added: “I believe it will work very well and gives us the infrastructure that will take public transport in this area into the future.”
