Long-delayed M6 Junction 10 roadworks now won't be complete until next year
Transport bosses have confirmed that roadworks at the M6's Junction 10 will not be completed this year.
Bosses overseeing the £78 million project, which has involved replacing the bridges on the roundabout over the motorway with structures that can carry four lanes of traffic instead of two, have said that all four lanes of the roundabout should be open this summer.
However, they have also said that due to a fresh assessment of the work programme, they said they don't anticipate the scheme being fully completed until spring 2024.
The overhaul of the M6 Junction 10 for Walsall started in 2020 and had been due for completion last year, before it was pushed back due to a number of external factors which were blamed for the delay.
These have included the Covid-19 pandemic, staff and material shortages, a sub-contractor going into administration during the project, and more work being required to maintain and repair parts of the existing infrastructure, which included repairs to street light cabling and the drainage system.
The next few weeks will see more works done on the roundabout around Junction 10, which is one of the busiest motorway junctions in the country, including up-and-over diversions on Tuesday, August 29 for southbound traffic and Wednesday, August 30 for northbound traffic.
Other works will see overnight lane closures on the north and southbound exit slip roads from Thursday, August 31 to Saturday, September 2, which bosses at National Highways hope will lead to all four lanes being open around the roundabout.
National Highways programme manager Ashfaq Hussain thanked the public for their continued patience during the works.
He said: “Although we expect to have all four lanes open around the roundabout this summer, having completed a fresh assessment of our work programme we don’t now anticipate the scheme will be fully completed until spring 2024.
“We appreciate this is disappointing news for road users and the local community and is significantly later than originally planned.
“Since this scheme got under way, there have been a number of unexpected challenges which have impacted progress including the Covid-19 pandemic, national supply issues with some of the signage technology and the manufacture of the new bridges was delayed when a subcontractor went into administration.
“In addition, while carrying out the work we have also identified some additional maintenance required on the existing infrastructure including the drainage system and street light cabling which we will complete now rather than cause further disruption in the near future.
“We are sorry for any inconvenience caused by our work and would like to thank people for their patience while we complete this complex, much-needed project which will tackle congestion at the very busy junction.”
