The Metrolink car park in Whitefield will close for several months from today as work starts on a scheme to increase the number of car parking spaces for customers.
Construction work to expand the Whitefield park and ride site, which is expected to last until early 2022, is due to begin this week.
Once complete it will have an extra parking deck, expanding car parking capacity from 208 to 331 spaces.
The Whitefield development will also see alterations to the drop off area, bus turning area and bus stop at the station.
The direction of one-way traffic to the car park would be changed to flow clockwise.
New parking spaces would be created near the turning circle which would require some tree removal.
Radcliffe park and ride will close in winter 2021 and work to install a new parking deck increasing car parking capacity from 369 to 480 spaces is expected to be complete there by summer 2022.
During the works, Whitefield car park will temporarily close to users, including the bus turning circle and bus stops.
Drivers who would normally use the Whitefield car park will be redirected to a temporary Metrolink car park which has been set up in Radcliffe and has space for 250 cars.
The temporary car park in Radcliffe, which is accessed from Spring Lane, will remain open until summer 2022.
Chris Barnes, interim head of projects at Transport for Greater Manchester, said: “The extra car parking spaces which will be created as a part of this project will enable more people to access the Metrolink network and use public transport for a part of their journeys.
“The project is progressing well and now the Whitefield site is closing I would ask any displaced drivers to head to the new temporary site which we have created in Radcliffe, where they will be able to board Metrolink services and travel as normal.“
Normal tram services will operate at Whitefield throughout the closure of the car park, but due to safety considerations the customer drop off point and blue badge spaces will not be available.
These facilities will remain available at Radcliffe Metrolink stop throughout the works and TfGM said their data has shown this will provide adequate capacity for blue badge parking while Whitefield is closed.
To assist regular Metrolink passengers, any monthly or annual season ticket holders who were parking at Whitefield park and ride site (Zone 3) and are redirected to the new temporary car park or park and ride site in Radcliffe (Zone 4) during the closure at Whitefield for construction, will be able to travel at no extra cost.
When the Whitefield site is closed, the existing bus stops at that location for the 95 service will be temporarily relocated onto Stanley Road.
These services will continue to run as normal during the construction works.
Passengers with Whitefield tram passes may find that the touch-on/off travel pass validators located on the Radcliffe Metrolink stop will not accept their pass on the system.
However, passengers should continue with their journey as Metrolink staff have been advised to allow travel during these works.
Work will be carried out from Monday to Friday between 8am and 6pm and on Saturdays between 9am and 2pm.
There are no current proposals for work to take place overnight, on Sundays or Bank Holidays.
Once the works are complete at Whitefield, the site will re-open ahead of expansion works starting at Radcliffe’s Metrolink park and ride site.
