Alderley Edge - Bypass

Bypass

• Alderley Edge church seen over bypass construction site, Chelford Road bridge site, 3 August 2009

• Alderley Edge: The Edge seen over bypass site, Chelford Road bridge site,3 August 2009

• Bypass site at Brook Lane, 14 August 2009

• Bypass site, north end, 14 August 2009

• South end of Alderley Edge bypass, Cheshire, England, 27 April 2010

• Brook Lane, Alderley Edge Cheshire, England, cut by bypass construction, from west, 10 July 2010

• Brook Lane, Alderley Edge Cheshire, England, cut by bypass construction, from east, 22 August 2010

• Brook Lane, Alderley Edge, Cheshire, England: new bridge over bypass now open, 12 September 2010

A three mile (5 km) north-to-south A34 Alderley Edge bypass (now officially named Melrose Way) has been built, starting at the Harden roundabout at the south end of the existing Wilmslow bypass and going west of Alderley Edge and rejoining the A34 at the bend about 400 yards north of the south gate of Astra Zeneca's laboratory grounds. The bypass will hopefully go a long way to relieving the congestion caused by the 26,000 vehicles that currently pass through Alderley Edge daily. The project cost £56 million and Birse Civils are the contractor for the main civil engineering works. Further information and up-to-date news on the progression of the bypass can be found on alderleyedge.com

Building the bypass disrupted traffic in the area:

• The A535 road between Alderley Edge and Chelford was closed for at least 4 days around 4 July 2010 while the section over the new bridge over the bypass was resurfaced.
• Some country lanes between the A535 and the A34 were affected (one-way: Soss Moss Lane westbound only, Nursery Lane eastbound only) or closed during the work.
• Brook Lane in Alderley Edge (a road from Alderley Edge to Knutsford) was closed starting in March 2010 and reopened around the last weekend in August 2010.

The bypass was officially opened on Friday, 19 November 2010, "over 6 months before schedule" according to a notice that contractors put up at its south end.

As at 14 January 2011 some country lanes between the A535 and the A34 were still one-way.

The roundabout at its south end is called Frog Lane Roundabout.

As at 14 January 2011 there were still roadworks at Monks Heath and elsewhere in the area.

Building the bypass cut off Heawood Hall from its former entry lodge on the (old) A34. Heawood Hall now has a new entry drive from the Frog Lane roundabout.

The bypass was closed from 20 June 2012 to 7 July 2012 for work on electricity mains (information as at about 24 June 2012)