A ceremony to mark the completion of the £53m Poynton Relief Road takes 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.

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.”

Clare Hayward, chair of the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), said: “The relief road will offer much needed improvements to the road network in the Poynton area and the LEP is delighted to have provided some of the funding. It will help us take another step towards our unrelenting ambition to make Cheshire and Warrington the healthiest, most sustainable, inclusive and growing economy in the country.

“Improved connectivity and infrastructure will help to make the area an even more attractive location for businesses and investors, improving connectivity to Macclesfield and Manchester Airport as well as benefitting residents by taking heavy traffic away from the centre of Poynton.”

Cllr Colin MacAllister, Cabinet Member for economy and regeneration at Stockport Council, said: “The opening of the Poynton Relief Road is good news for Stockport residents.

“We’d like to thank everyone for the patience shown while the works have been taking place, particularly in recent times while the contractors have connected the new road with the A555.

“This new road will not only relieve traffic congestion in and around Poynton, Woodford and Bramhall, but will also improve commuting time for our residents and those travelling in the area.”

Alastair Lewis, Contracts Director at GRAHAM, said: “We’re delighted to have completed the new Poynton Relief Road and very excited to see it open to the public in March. The scheme has been a fantastic collaboration between our highways team, Cheshire East Council and many other stakeholders and I’d like to thank everyone involved for their hard work throughout the programme.

“This new relief road will provide a huge boost to both Poynton and the surrounding areas, vastly reducing congestion while also creating new avenues for economic, social and physical growth.

“This £53m project is another significant addition to our growing highways portfolio and we are proud to have played our part in its success.”

Poynton Relief Road is a modern standard single carriageway, approximately three kilometres long. The scheme includes the building of two overbridge crossings for walkers, cyclists and farm vehicles, plus a 3.5 metre-wide combined cycle and footway running parallel to the road on the western side of the main carriageway.

Cheshire East Council contributed £21m towards the cost of the scheme with Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership providing £5.6m from the government’s Growth Deal and the Department for Transport providing £16.4m. Further funding of £7.7m is planned to come from developer contributions.

Find out more about the project here.