Simister Island rebuild Scheme update July 2026 | Motorway Junction Upgrade

National Highways M60 upgrade | Simister Island loop design | Manchester motorway construction news Work has begun on the Project with the Works Compounds being established, Lanes on the Motorway have been narrowed and changed and the overhead gantry signs have been removed. 00:45 M66 Compound 01:34 M60 Compound 02:30 Whitefield 02:57 Gantry Sign Removal 03:47 Irwell Valley 03:58 Traffic Jam 04:38 Heaton Park 05:14 Simister Simister Island is a major motorway interchange at junction 18 of the M60. Simister Island was constructed in 1970–71 as part of the development of the M62. By the late 1990s, traffic growth had far exceeded the junction's original capacity. The creation of the M60 orbital motorway incorporated Simister Island into the ring road network, greatly increasing its strategic importance. In 1999 the interchange was upgraded with free-flow slip roads for all left-turn movements, a widened four-lane circulatory carriageway, and colour-coded spiral markings to guide vehicles through the newly signal-controlled junction.[2] Despite these improvements, the layout continued to struggle with rising demand, resulting in chronic congestion and safety concerns. In March 2020, the Government’s second Road Investment Strategy included a commitment for Highways England to improve Simister Island Interchange between the M62, M60 and M66. Simister Island Interchange is one of the busiest motorway junctions in the north-west used by around 90,000 vehicles each day. The junction struggles with such high volumes of traffic above what it was designed for, and as a result suffers from congestion and poor journey time reliability. The project will improve junction 18 of the M60 and facilitate smoother flows of traffic along the connecting motorways, contributing to more reliable and safer journeys into and around Greater Manchester. The project itself will see a ‘northern loop’ built to stop thousands of vehicles using the current traffic light controlled roundabout every day. A five-lane section on both sides of the M60 between Prestwich and Simister (junctions 17 and 18) has been included as well. The M66 on the Bury side of the junction would also be widened with new lanes introduced at the interchange and a second lane added from the M60 northbound link. Estimated to cost upto £340 million the project is expected to take around 5 years to complete.