Good progress on major M42 junction upgrade

National Highways has released footage showing two new bridges weighing a total of 2,050 tonnes being moved into place as part of a £282m upgrade of the M42 in Solihull.

The government-owned company is currently upgrading what it described as a well-known bottleneck at Junction 6 to improve connections on and off the A45 while also supporting access to Birmingham International Airport and train station.

To create the new junction (5a) National Highways installed two new bridges across the M42, with the motorway closed to motorists during the work from Friday evening (14 October) and re-opened on Sunday.

National Highways said that by planning the work methodically, it was able to manoeuvre the two bridges into place during one weekend closure.

Senior project manager Leyton Rahman said: ‘Given the scale of the task involved, the bridges were moved into place using specialist equipment and we needed to do this using as a full carriageway closure.

‘We’re making good progress on the upgrade and once the work is complete, it will alleviate congestion.’

Chris Good, project director from Skanska, said: ‘This was a major milestone in the M42 upgrade and we’ve worked closely with National Highways to plan this work carefully to keep disruption to a minimum.’

The upgrade includes:

• a new 2.4km dual carriageway link road, aligned to the west of Bickenhill
• a new junction (5a) on the M42 motorway, approximately 1.8km south of the existing M42 Junction 6 (Solihull)
• two new roundabouts north of the B4102 Solihull Road on either side of the M42 motorway
• a new overbridge above the A45 near to the Arden Hotel, providing cyclists and walkers with a safer route to cross the A45.