A555 Manchester Airport Eastern Link Road - Flooded again?!

[Mcr Warrior]

What's the main problem with the A555 Manchester Airport Eastern Link (Relief) Road (from the Airport out for eight miles towards Hazel Grove), which seems to flood every time there's anything more of the slightest of drizzles in South Manchester?

Built on the cheap? Designed by some work experience kid with only the haziest notion of surface water drainage and geohydrology? A victim of wetter winters and/or global warming?

Seems to be under water more often than the Conwy Valley railway line, which is saying something!

 

[jfollows]

It was either built incompetently, or on the cheap, or both. Perhaps the result of going for the lowest cost bid for the contract - when I ran procurements the metric was "most economically advantageous" which does not mean it has to be the cheapest bid up front.
Fortunately I've never had to use this road and probably never will, it's in the wrong place to make sense for a journey I make although I could invent one that would use it.
The A34 Alderley Edge bypass usually floods at the same time, and the A34 Wilmslow bypass also flooded recently because some of its pumps broke, but I think (hope) the latter has been fixed. I do use the Alderley bypass occasionally, fortunately not today or tomorrow in my plans.

A partial explanation is the vast amount of house building over recent years on land which used to flood but which now causes the water to run off to the closest lower-lying land, the A555 and the A34.

 

[ABB125]

Built on the cheap?

Very much so - it should have had grade-separated junctions etc.

I suspect that's not quite what you had in mind though!

 

[Jamesrob637]

It's the part from the 80s/90s that floods though, not the newer part built in the 2010s.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

The part that floods in Handforth is under the Wilmslow Road bridge (the old A34), the lowest point in that area. There are storage tanks that are supposed to take the excess water, but clearly the design calculations are wrong. The slip roads on the east side were built in 1995, but the main carriageway is the recent extension.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

What particularly grinded my gears this week was that the latest A555 flood closure (on Thursday) was showing neither on the overhead gantries coming off the M56 at Junction 5 for Manchester Airport, nor on SatNav.

 

[jfollows]

It's the part from the 80s/90s that floods though, not the newer part built in the 2010s.

It's previously been reported that flooding has been on the new section to the east of this, but the section under the old A34 in Handforth is also "new" in the sense that the A555 used to end here and the only roads were the slip roads up to the old A34 from the east and the road under the A34 wasn't open.
I suspect it's a combination of "new" roads not being able to cope with the water and "old" sections being overwhelmed because of increased housing on land which used to flood without problems.

 

[Lost property]

What particularly grinded my gears this week was that the latest A555 flood closure (on Thursday) was showing neither on the overhead gantries coming off the M56 at Junction 5 for Manchester Airport, nor on SatNav.

The reason I suggest the flooding wasn't displayed on the o'head gantries on the M56 is because this information is directly inputted by National Highways, or whatever the current name is, but it probably showed the number of miles to the next junction...or FOG, in broad daylight.

When it comes to unexpected floods, after the infamous "missing link " on the M60 was, finally, constructed, this too suddenly started to flood....funnily enough in the area at the bottom of some of the hillier parts.

I understand the new A556 is also prone to excessive standing water at times...even if it is an improvement on the old route through Bucllow Hill and Meir.

 

[daodao]

I understand the new A556 is also prone to excessive standing water at times...even if it is an improvement on the old route through Buckow Hill and Mere.

Not in my experience, and I use the A556 at least twice per week, although the section linking the new A556 to the M56 (a short section I rarely use) might be affected.

the A34 Wilmslow bypass also flooded recently

A few months ago, I was driving north from Alderley Edge to Wilmslow, and the old A34 was closed north of the roundabout with the A34 bypass. I was diverted (at night) onto the A34 Wilmslow bypass and only just managed to drive through the standing water - the bypass should have been closed as well.

There are several other sections of road near Wilmslow that can be impassable due to flooding: the old A34 south of the roundabout with the A34 bypass near the Merlin Hotel, the A538 under the railway bridge next to Wilmslow station and the A538 near to Mottram St Andrews. I don't think many of these problems are due to excess water draining related to new housing developments, but reflect the poor drainage in many parts of Cheshire, west of the hills in Eastern Cheshire, that is reflected in the large number of meres and mosses dotted across the landscape.

 

[jfollows]

Not in my experience, and I use the A556 at least twice per week, although the section linking the new A556 to the M56 (a short section I rarely use) might be affected.


A few months ago, I was driving north from Alderley Edge to Wilmslow, and the old A34 was closed north of the roundabout with the A34 bypass. I was diverted (at night) onto the A34 Wilmslow bypass and only just managed to drive through the standing water - the bypass should have been closed as well.

There are several other sections of road near Wilmslow that can be impassable due to flooding: the old A34 south of the roundabout with the A34 bypass near the Merlin Hotel, the A538 under the railway bridge next to Wilmslow station and the A538 near to Mottram St Andrews. I don't think many of these problems are due to excess water draining related to new housing developments, but reflect the poor drainage in many parts of Cheshire, west of the hills in Eastern Cheshire, that is reflected in the large number of meres and mosses dotted across the landscape.

I think you're right, the new housing may have brought its own additional problems but the places you state were always susceptible to flooding anyway.