More misery for motorists as M6 repairs bring 40mph limit for SIX MONTHS
Motorists travelling along the M6 from the Black Country to Birmingham face more than six months of disruption as £4.2 million bridge repairs are carried out.
Speed limits have now been restricted to 40mph on the southbound carriageway between Junction 7 for Great Barr and Junction 8 for the M5 and the stretch has also been reduced to two narrow lanes.
Concrete repairs are being carried out to the motorway bridges which take the traffic over the Rushall canal as well as the M5 to M6 southbound link road.
They will be followed by renewing the waterproofing and surfacing on the routes.
Highways England, which has commissioned the works, has vowed disruption to motorists will be kept to a minimum.
Project manager Jessica Kenny said: "Safety is our top priority, and therefore traffic management will be required throughout the length of the scheme to enable our workforce to access the bridges, and to protect the travelling public.
"We recognise that this is a busy section of the motorway and we are doing everything we can to ensure that disruption is kept to a minimum by keeping two lanes open for the vast majority of the time.
"We are doing our very best to complete them as quickly as possible, keeping disturbances and noise to a minimum."
On top of the daily delays for drivers the road authority has warned there will be additional lane closures and even full carriageway closures overnight throughout the period.
And bridge repairs on the northbound side of the route are in the pipeline with preparatory work on the verge and hard shoulder set to take place during the summer holidays.
The scheme is scheduled to be finished by December 23.
Sandwell councillor Steve Melia, who represents the Great Barr area, expressed concerns about the works.
He said: "It is disturbing. I have been notified by Highways as I have the two junctions in my ward.
"I am concerned that this will have a knock-on effect and cause severe problems on the surrounding roads in the area because people will be looking to miss the central motorway system or the 'triangle' as I call it, especially if it is going to take six months.
"Ever since the elevated motorway was built we have had ongoing problems. There is always some sort of roadworks going on there.
"I would just ask drivers to take extra care and allow for extra traffic on the roads."
