A ceremony to mark the completion of the £53 million Poynton Relief Road will take place next month, the final chapter in the North East Cheshire and South Manchester highways infrastructure programme.

The ceremony takes place on Friday, 3 March, prior to the opening of the road to pedestrians and cyclists before it opens to traffic the following Monday, 6 March.

The relief road is designed to relieve Poynton village of high volumes of traffic travelling between the Macclesfield and Poynton areas to Stockport, the airport, Manchester and the wider area.

The road is to be named Roy Chadwick Way, after the engineer who designed the Lancaster bomber, a workhorse of the Second World War. Roy Chadwick led a team of engineers at Woodford before he was tragically killed during a test flight in 1947, aged 54. A memorial information board marking his death, and other crew members, has been unveiled and positioned near to the new road.

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Construction of the 3km Poynton Relief Road has been a partnership project between Cheshire East Council and GRAHAM, and partially funded by the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership. The council has worked very closely with Stockport Council, as the new road crosses the boundary between the two authorities.

Councillor Craig Browne, Cheshire East Council deputy leader and chair of the council’s highways and transport committee, said: "I want to thank and congratulate our highways team and the contractors, Graham, for delivering this project on time and on budget.

"This new road will bring about considerable change and relief for residents in Poynton, and the surrounding area, who have tolerated many decades of heavy traffic. I want to thank the people of Poynton, Woodford and Bramhall for their patience and tolerance during the periods of unavoidable disruption.

"The council has an outstanding record in delivering major infrastructure projects and the Poynton Relief Road is another example of our commitment to improving the quality of life for our residents through reduced traffic and improved air quality.

"It's been described as the ‘missing link’ because it was originally planned alongside the new A555 Manchester Airport Relief Road – which was future proofed to accommodate the Poynton Relief Road.

"It is fitting this road is named after Roy Chadwick, a brilliant man and a true visionary, whose engineering and design achievements spanned the periods of flight – from early biplanes to jet aircraft. He designed many of the Avro aircraft built at the A V Roe factory, at Woodford, including the famous Lancaster bomber."