Busy Midland island to undergo work
One of the West Midlands' busiest and most congested traffic Islands will undergo work to enhance safety and improve traffic flow.
More than £800,000 is being spent on the Salford Circus roundabout, near Great Barr at junction six of the M6, and will see the busy island widened and new traffic signals installed.
It is hoped the work, which is due to start next week, will reduce traffic congestion and improve journey times.
The eight week 'pinch point' improvement scheme begins on Monday (JUNE 2) and will take place mainly during the night from 8pm to 6am, although some work may have to be during during the day.
Jess Kenny, project manager for the scheme, said: "This £800,000 pinch point scheme has been designed to make the junction safer and improve journey time reliability for road users.
"The improvements will reduce traffic congestion which, in turn, will reduce journey times, particularly during peak periods, and benefit the environment by reducing slow moving and queuing traffic.
"Although we have scheduled most of the work to take place overnight, to minimise disruption to road users some work may have to take place in the day.
"We will publicise all diversions and lane closures in advance and they will be clearly signposted."
During the course of the work, there will be various lane closures at the roundabout, including a full closure of Slade Road, the A38 link road approaches to the roundabout, the A5127 Lichfield Road and Tyburn Road approaches.
Diversion routes will be in place during all closures. The lanes and approaches to the roundabout will remain open outside of the hours in which the work is being carried out.
The work is expected to be completed in early July.
It follows the completion of nearly two years of roadworks on the busy motorway last month, after a project to open it up to four lanes was completed.
The £126 million widening project from the Highways Agency began in June 2012 between junction five for Castle Bromwich and eight for the M5 link at West Bromwich, with 50 mph restrictions in place for the duration.
Work is continuing further north on the M6 where 50 mph speed restrictions are in place between junctions 10A for the M54, and 13 for Eccleshall as the hard shoulder is again opened up. That work is expected to be completed by spring 2015.
Bosses said they wanted to increase capacity on the motorway and improve journey times.
