Spaghetti Junction maintenance work means months of delays
Drivers on motorways around Birmingham face disruption until July as two maintenance projects get under way, the Highways Agency said.
One is at the M6 Gravelly Hill Interchange, known as Spaghetti Junction, and the other at junction 8 of the M6, where it joins the M5.
Repairs will be made to the concrete and drainage work will be carried out.
There will be lane, full carriageway and slip road closures and temporary speed limits in place, the agency said.
Jess Kenny, project manager for the schemes, said: "By undertaking the work now, we will reduce the need to carry out in the future emergency road surface repairs which are frustrating for road users, and will therefore minimise disruption in the long-term."
- Opened May 24 May 1972
- It serves 18 routes and was designed to last 120 years
- An average of 40,000 vehicles per day used it in the first year it opened, which has now risen to more than 210,000 per day
- The junction has its own weather station
- Spaghetti Junction is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary
The work on the M6/M5 link road will involve maintenance to bridges, including the Ray Hall Viaduct, the River Tame Bridge and Wigmore Viaduct.
The road will be reduced to a single lane and the M6 junction 9 southbound slip road will be closed. A 50mph speed limit will be in place.
The project started on Monday and is due to be completed at the end of May.
The scheme on viaducts at Spaghetti Junction will involve work to four of the slip roads.
It is due to begin on 11 January and will be completed at the end of July, the agency said.