A USA-style highway investigation

A USA-style highway from Manchester to Sheffield would likely prove impossible due to the impact on Derbyshire’s peak park and many logistical issues, a transport official says, despite suggestions online.

The route between two of the UK’s major cities leads through Glossop and rural northern Derbyshire including the notorious and winding Snake Pass.

Comparison in recent weeks has looked at what a route between two major cities in the USA is like – for instance, a six-lane motorway between Austin and San Antonio in Texas – in stark contrast to the Manchester to Sheffield trip.

The Snake Pass route, winding through the Peak District hills, is also prone to severe weather conditions and is often closed in heavy snow and has experienced numerous significant landslips, which have seen it periodically closed for much of the past year.

A Derbyshire County Council scrutiny meeting saw the comparison between the US’s major highways and the Peak District’s two-track road discussed.

Cllr Nigel Gourlay said: “The route between Manchester and Sheffield would be connected by a good-sized highway in the USA.”

Chris Hegarty, part of the council’s public transport team, said: “Building a motorway through the centre of a national park would be very difficult to do and may not be able to get through the planning process.

“People would keep digging tunnels to stop you building it.

“I’m not saying that kind of capacity isn’t needed but it would be very difficult to do.”

The 39-mile route between Manchester and Sheffield takes an hour and 30 minutes in favourable conditions, while the 80-mile route between Austin and San Antonio takes an hour and 15 minutes in favourable conditions.

Another comparison between two major cities in Europe, Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, has also been made, with the 48-mile route taking just over an hour in the same conditions.

The train link between Manchester and Sheffield takes 52 minutes, while the longer route between Amsterdam and Rotterdam takes 41 minutes.

In 2020, the Local Democracy Reporting Service detailed that then-Highways England (now National Highways) found that a 25-mile tunnel linking Manchester and Sheffield would cost between £8 billion and £12 billion but could shorten journey times between the M1 and M60 to about 30 minutes.

It found that the Trans-Pennine Tunnel could pass through the “highest and most difficult terrain” and reduce traffic in the Peak District National Park.

Data suggests an improved route could provide capacity for roughly double the existing usage on the A628, increasing to around 35,000 vehicles a day.

At the time, David Whitley, senior transport programme manager at Sheffield City Region, had said: “Doing nothing is an alternative option but not one supported by the Peak District National Park and road links between two key regions would remain poor, adversely impacting a collection of things and constraining the Northern Powerhouse economy.”