THIS is the first glimpse of the state-of-the-art guided busway that will link Bolton commuters to Manchester and Leigh.

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has released a new artist’s impression of Sale Lane in Tyldesley — one of the seven pairs of new stops on the 4.5 mile guided busway between Leigh and Ellenbrook.

All new stops on the busway will be fully accessible, with shelters, CCTV, real time electronic information displays and cycle parking.

Services on the £68 million busway — funded through the Greater Manchester Transport Fund — will run on new and existing bus lanes along the East Lancashire Road into the city centre and through to Oxford Road, cutting journey times.

Cllr Andrew Fender, chairman of the TfGM committee, said: “Construction work is well under way on the guided busway — the flagship scheme of a much wider bus priority package — so it’s fantastic that we can begin to show people how it will look.

“Other UK busway systems have rightly set the bar high in terms of quality of service and in keeping with this we want to provide passengers with a high quality, reliable and frequent bus service with state-of-the-art stops.

“The guided busway will improve local links and stimulate investment in the local area, in addition to providing shorter journey times to key employment, education and health sites along Oxford Road, south of Manchester city centre.”

Peter Boulton, TfGM’s head of programme management services, added: “One of the key benefits of the bus priority package is that we are introducing infrastructure so that buses can get across Manchester city centre more reliably.”

Busway construction work started last year and is due for completion in 2015. Work will start later this year to lay the two concrete tracks on which high quality, environmentally friendly buses — with specially adapted guide wheels — will run.

Walkers, cyclists and horse riders will be able to enjoy a 4.5 metre wide path along the entire length of the busway, all year round.

Three park and ride sites will serve the route between Leigh and Manchester providing at least 440 parking spaces.

For more information on the bus priority project visit tfgm.com/buspriority.