AERIAL photographs showing the progress of the guided busway have been released.
The images, commissioned by contractor Balfour Beatty on behalf of Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), show the landscape of the area, as the crow flies, along the 4.5 mile route.
Construction of the busway began last year and has causing disruption in Atherton, Leigh and Tyldesley.
Peter Boulton, TfGM’s head of Programme Management Services, said: “The busway route is really starting to take shape and these images give a completely different perspective on the work people will normally see at road-level.
“You can see how we are bringing new life to the former railway route as we reinstate high quality transport links and introduce a new recreation route along the entire length.
“It’s important to us that busway services fit into the natural landscape and that’s why services will be run using low emission, low noise vehicles that are suitable to travel alongside the busway’s recreation route.”
Upton Lane in Tyldesley
A 4.5 metre-wide recreation route – for use by walkers, cyclists and horse riders – will be surfaced so that it can be used throughout the year.
The final landscaping plans for the route - including a native hedge along the majority of the route to separate the recreation route from the busway and significant landscaping along the length of the route - were announced last month by TfGM.
Supporters if the busway say it will improve transport links by reducing journey times for bus passengers between Leigh, Atherton, Salford, Manchester city centre and beyond.
It is due to start running in 2015 and TfGM expects to announce the busway operator soon.
For more information on the bus priority project in Greater Manchester, visit tfgm.com/buspriority.
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