In a rare win for common sense and functioning infrastructure, Rochdale has unveiled a brand-new pedestrian crossing outside Howard Street Nursery and Family Hub, proving that sometimes, if you wait long enough, local government does eventually install the thing you’ve been asking for since 2009.
The crossing forms part of the Vision Zero strategy, a refreshingly ambitious (if slightly optimistic) plan to eliminate all road deaths and serious injuries in Greater Manchester by 2040. That’s right: zero. As in none. As in even the bloke who never looks up from his phone while crossing Oldham Road.
Funded through the Vision Zero Innovation Fund, the Howard Street crossing is the latest in a series of safety boosts, following new crossings at St Mary’s Gate, Shawclough Road, Oldham Road in Middleton, and the Roch Valley Way super-junction, a traffic Bermuda Triangle now slightly more survivable.
Cllr Shah Wazir, Rochdale’s cabinet member for Highways and sensible shoes, said: “We need to make it as easy as possible for people to make healthier travel choices,” adding that the crossing will particularly help children and carers trying to walk or ‘wheel’ without the added risk of being flattened by a distracted van driver.
Sandra Hartley, former exec head at Greenbank Primary and Howard Street Nursery, returned to the scene like a road safety messiah to say, “It’s something we worked on with the council and I’m thrilled to see it delivered.” Presumably after years of emails, meetings, and the occasional polite-but-firm scowl.
From down the M62, we salute this modest yet meaningful victory in the battle against everyday road peril. Because while Vision Zero may sound like a dystopian sci-fi movie, here in Rochdale, it starts with one less child having to sprint across three lanes of traffic just to get to nursery.
