M5 Oldbury viaduct roadworks progress
Highways bosses say repairs to M5's Oldbury Viaduct have reached a new milestone.
Catherine Brookes, the agency's West Midlands Regional Director, has revealed that 95 per cent of the work has finished.
The only remaining work is on the northbound carriageway, with the southbound carriageway already complete, as the project's deadline draws nearer.
Highways England hopes to complete the mammoth repair job by Autumn this year.
Ms Brookes said: “We’ve made really good progress to concrete repairs on the northbound carriageway and we now have around 95 per cent of concrete repairs completed.
“This means that in some parts of the work we’re now able to start applying the waterproofing material and that is an integral part of the work.
"This material is really important as it will help to protect the structure for years to come and prevent water accessing the concrete that we have repaired.
“We understand the level of disruption this project involves, and we’d like to thank motorists, businesses and residents for their continued patience.”
The project to repair the M5's concrete structure, on the motorway between Junction 1 for West Bromwich and Junction 2 for Oldbury, began in Autumn 2017.
It has faced delays due to the project's complexity, adverse weather conditions and there being more repairs than initially believed. It was believed at first there would be less than 2,000 repairs, but Highways England has actually uncovered more than 8,000.
The repair job is the largest concrete repair project ever undertaken in the UK and the scheme is also thought to be the largest scaffolding project in Europe.
There has been more than 400 hundred miles of scaffolding used, which is enough to cover seven football pitches.
Currently, contraflow is in place where motorists are restricted to travelling at a 30mph speed limit.
The speed limit, alongside narrow lanes, have been in place since the roadworks started.
In the coming weeks, contractors are planning to install waterproof materials, resurface the carriageway and lay down new road markings.
The work has been carried out to repair damaged sections of the M5's concrete viaduct over Oldbury and West Bromwich.
Contractors work both above and below the motorway to carry out repairs, while thousands of motorists pass along the major traffic route each day.
