M60 junction 18 Simister Island Interchange

Latest updates

• 10 February 2025

  Survey work

  Over the next couple of months, we’ll be carrying out drainage and technology surveys. These surveys involve manually inspecting and assessing existing drainage and technology assets within the highway verges and central reserve. The information we collect from these surveys will help us with the development of the detailed design for the scheme. 

  The survey work is scheduled to take place during the day on Monday 17 February until Friday 21 February 2025 from 8:00am to 5:00pm. And overnight from Monday 24 February through to Friday 7 March 2025 from 8:00am to 6:00pm. Temporary traffic management will be in place to ensure the safety of our contractors while the work is carried out. 

  The survey areas will include the verges and central reserve between junctions 18 and 19 of the M60, the verges between junctions 17 and 18 of the M60, and the verges between junction 3 and 4 of the M66. Some surveys will also be required on the slip roads and link roads around junction 18 Simister Island. There may be some additional noise at these locations while the work is being carried out. 

  Please note, the Transport Secretary has commissioned a review of the Department for Transport's spending portfolio, including current and future road schemes. While the review is ongoing, we’re continuing with our work on the scheme, 

  Read the Secretary of State’s written statement to Parliament of 30 July 2024. 

  If you have any questions, feel free to email:

  M60J18SimisterIslandInterchange@nationalhighways.co.uk.

  Alternatively, you can call our Customer Contact Centre on 0300 123 5000. 

   

• 11 October 2024

  Pavement surveys

  Next week, we’ll be carrying out pavement surveys, scheduled to take place overnight on Monday 14 and Tuesday 15 October 2024. These surveys involve extracting core samples from the road surface and reinstating it once the samples have been taken. Temporary traffic management will be in place to ensure the safety of our contractors while the work is carried out.

  The survey areas will include the M66 southbound carriageway beneath Simister Island, the slip road from the M62 westbound to the M60 southbound, and the slip road from the M60 eastbound to the M66 northbound. There may be some additional noise at these locations while the work is being carried out.

  Please note, the Transport Secretary has commissioned a review of the Department for Transport's spending portfolio, including current and future road schemes. While the review is ongoing, we’re continuing with our work on the scheme,

  Read the Secretary of State’s written statement to Parliament of 30 July 2024.

  If you have any questions, feel free to email: M60J18SimisterIslandInterchange@nationalhighways.co.uk.

  Alternatively, you can call our Customer Contact Centre on 0300 123 5000.

• 01 May 2024

  Our Development Consent Order (DCO) application has been accepted

  The Planning Inspectorate has accepted our application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) for detailed examination.
  
  As the M60 Junction 18 Simister Island scheme is a nationally significant infrastructure project, we need to apply for a DCO for the scheme as required by the Planning Act 2008.

  Notice of Hearings Relating to the M60/M62/M66 Simister Island Interchange

  Follow the progress of our DCO application

  Our application documents are available to be viewed on the Planning Inspectorate webpage.

  This page tells you the current stage of the DCO process and what happens in it. We're currently in the pre-examination stage

  You can also register to receive progress updates on the Planning Inspectorate's page. 

  The planning process is likely to take around 16 months including up to six months of examination, some taking place at public hearings.

  This Planning inspectorate video explains the stages of the DCO process.

  Keeping in touch

  Use the link on the right of this page to sign up for email updates on this webpage.
  
  If you have any questions about our latest updates, email: m60j18simisterislandinterchange@nationalhighways.co.uk 

• 07 December 2023

  Preparing to apply for development consent

  Since the public consultation earlier this year, we’ve been working hard to develop the design of the scheme prior to applying to the Planning Inspectorate for development consent.

  As a result of that process, and in response to your comments, we’ve made a number of changes to the design. These vary in scale from a reduction in the land needed for drainage to small realignments of the scheme boundary.

  We subsequently undertook a targeted consultation during the summer, to let those affected know about the changes and understand their views.

  What's coming up?

  We’re currently getting ready to submit our development consent order (DCO) application to the Planning Inspectorate and expect to do this in early 2024. 

  Our application will include a wide range of supporting documents including:

  • the current design for the scheme
  • details of the land required
  • a detailed consultation report, summarising the consultation findings and explaining how they have informed changes to the scheme
  • environmental reports

  All of the documents will be available to view, subject to formal acceptance of our DCO application, on the Planning Inspectorate website. 

  The inspectors will then examine the application, inviting input from interested parties and statutory consultees. The examination period is a maximum of six months. 

  Following the examination, the Planning Inspectorate will present its recommendation to the Secretary of State for Transport, who will then make the final decision on whether development consent should be granted. 

  You can find out more about the process by watching this DCO video explainer or on the Planning Inspectorate’s website.

  Meanwhile, we’ll carry on working on our detailed design throughout this process. If our application for development consent is successful, we expect to start construction work in 2025/26. Construction is expected to take approximately three years.

  Prior to starting any work on-site, we’ll be out in the community sharing our construction timelines and detailed plans. This will be an opportunity for people to meet the project team and ask any questions they may have. More details will be shared about how to participate in due course.   

  In the meantime, we’ll continue to post regularly about scheme progress here. You can keep up to date by signing up for updates.

• 29 June 2023

  Interim report on public consultation

  Following our public consultation between 15 February and 28 March 2023 we have produced an interim report.

  As set out in our Statement of Community Consultation, the interim report contains the initial feedback and views collected from the public and stakeholders through the consultation response form.

  All of the responses will help us to develop proposals further and understand any concerns about the project ahead of the Development Consent Order application.

  Read the interim report on public consultation.

  If you would like to request a copy of the interim report, please contact us via email: M60J18SimisterIslandInterchange@nationalhighways.co.uk or call us on 0300 123 5000.

  What happens now?

  We are considering the consultation responses while further developing our proposal for the application for development consent.

  Our application will include a detailed consultation report which will summarise the consultation findings and explain how they have informed any changes or refinements to the scheme design.

  The report will be available to view following acceptance of the development consent application by the Planning Inspectorate.

  The Planning Inspectorate will then examine the application for development consent, with input from interested parties and statutory consultees. The examination period is a maximum of six months.

  Following the examination, the Planning Inspectorate will present its recommendation to the Secretary of State for Transport, who will then make the final decision on whether the development consent should be granted.

  We’ll carry on working on our detailed design throughout this process and, if our application for development consent is successful, we expect to start construction work in 2025.

• 06 February 2023

  Consultation to get underway

  We’re preparing to hold a public consultation on the design changes we’ve made to the scheme since our last consultation in 2020.

  This is your opportunity to have a say on our proposals and shape the next stage of development.

  The consultation will take place from Wednesday 15 February to Tuesday 28 March 2023.

  During this time we’ll be holding public consultation events, online webinars and telephone events.

  In addition to the design changes, we’ve also carried out additional environmental surveys and monitoring. We want to hear your views on the most recent data and on our plans for reducing the environmental impacts of the scheme.

  When the consultation launches we’ll be uploading all of the materials to our consultation webpage, including an online response form.

  We have published our Statement of Community Consultation in local and national newspapers, which sets out how we’ll carry out this consultation.

  Make sure you are up to date with the latest scheme news by signing up for webpage updates.

• 27 January 2021

  Preferred route announcement

  We have chosen the Northern Loop option for improving Simister Island, which connects the M60, M62 and M66.

  View the northern loop option map.

  For more information about this route, see our Preferred Route Announcement brochure.

  This decision follows a two-month period of public consultation which we held in summer 2020, where over 67% of respondents preferred the Northern Loop.

  When selecting the preferred route, we considered several criteria, including the scheme objectives, safety, benefits, costs, environmental effects, construction and feedback from the consultation.

  This means that we’ll be building a new loop structure to provide a free-flow link road between the M60 eastbound to the M60 southbound, allowing drivers to continue along the M60 without having to leave the motorway, navigate the roundabout and re-join the same motorway.

  We’ll also build a new two-lane free-flow road from the M60 northbound to the M60 westbound to replace the existing single-lane, and widen the M66 southbound to four lanes through junction 18.

  As part of this project, we’ll also convert the hard shoulder into a permanent traffic lane between M60 junctions 17 and 18, providing 5 lanes in both directions.

  Next steps

  We’ll now continue with further surveys and assessments so we can develop the detailed design of the improved junction.

  This scheme is classed as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) under the Planning Act 2008. This means we’re required to make an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to obtain consent to build the project.

  The application will be made to the Planning Inspectorate, who will examine the application in public hearings and then make a recommendation to the Secretary of State for Transport, who will decide whether or not the project will go ahead.

  We plan to submit our application for a DCO by winter 2021/22, and a decision is expected in summer 2023. This short video explains the DCO process.

  We’ll be holding another consultation before our DCO submission. This is where we’ll want your feedback on a more detailed design of the junction.  We’ll continue to provide updates on this webpage as we progress, and you can subscribe for email alerts when we update this page.  

• 17 August 2020

  Consultation now closed

  Our public consultation has now closed. Thank you to everybody who took the time to provide us with your feedback on our scheme and the options we presented. We’ll now take time to analyse and consider the feedback we received. You can read our Report on Public Consultation which summaries the responses we received between June and August 2020.

  We will then make a ‘preferred route announcement’ following the consultation report. This is where we confirm which option we will take forward to improve Simister Island Interchange. We will use your feedback to help us make this decision.

  Although our consultation has now closed, we’d still like to hear from you. If you have any questions or would like more information about the project or what happens next, you can contact us on the following details:

  Email: M60J18SimisterIslandInterchange@highwaysengland.co.uk
  Telephone: 0300 123 5000 (Customer Contact Centre)
  Write to: M60 J18 Simister Island Interchange Project Team, Highways England, 3 Piccadilly Place, Manchester M1 3BN

  We may not post any updates about this scheme for some time while we analyse the responses, but we will be carrying out more engagement with communities and stakeholders when we reach our preferred route announcement. We hope to be able to hold face to face events for this, depending on social distancing restrictions at the time. You can subscribe to be alerted by email when we update this webpage in the future.
  
  This short video gives more information about how we develop major road projects and the process we expect to follow to obtain planning permission to build the scheme.