M42 motorway
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The M42 motorway runs north east from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire to just south-west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, passing Redditch, Solihull, the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and Tamworth on the way, serving the east of the Birmingham metropolitan area. The section between the M40 and junction 4 of the M6 forms – though unsigned as such – a part of Euroroute E05. Northwards beyond junction 11, the route is continued as the A42; the junctions on this section, 12–14, are numbered like a continuation of the motorway, but the road has non-motorway status from here.
Planning
A new motorway route from the M5 in Worcestershire to the M1 near Nottingham was announced in May 1966 in Nottingham, as a cheaper scheme than to upgrade the A453 piecemeal.
The motorway would join the M1 at Lockington in Leicestershire, and to join the M5 at Rashwood in Worcestershire.<ref>Nottingham Evening Post Thursday 19 May 1966, page 1</ref> The motorway would be Template:Convert, and was planned by five counties. The A42 would later terminate at Lockington.
Firm plans for a new motorway by-passing the south and east of Birmingham, reaching Tamworth and connecting the M5 and M6 motorways, were announced in 1972. The public enquiry for the Bromsgrove section took place in June 1973, also with the proposed Warwick section of the M40.<ref>Times Tuesday 3 April 1973, page 4</ref>
In March 1976, it was decided to reduce the Curdworth to Appleby section from three to two lanes, and to scrap motorway status.<ref>Birmingham Daily Post Wednesday 10 March 1976, page 6</ref> Breedon-on-the-Hill wanted the M42 to be built.<ref>Nottingham Evening Post Thursday 18 March 1976, page 26</ref>
Construction
Monkspath to Coleshill
The route of the Template:Convert section was published in March 1971.<ref>Birmingham Mail Friday 26 March 1971, page 15</ref>
Construction of this section, began in late February 1975. R M Douglas planned to build the section by early 1977, but it opened three months early on 8 November 1976.<ref>1976 opening</ref><ref>Birmingham Mail Monday 8 November 1976, page 26</ref><ref>Birmingham Daily Post Tuesday 9 November 1976, page 4</ref><ref>Coleshill Chronicle Friday 12 November 1976, page 9</ref> It linked Birmingham Airport with the M6 motorway.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
Coleshill to Curdworth
This is the section from the M6 with the A5 at Tamworth. Construction began in December 1983. Alfred McAlpine built the first six miles to the A5 in concrete. Leonard Fairclough & Son built the section from the A5 to Curdworth in asphalt. Six miles, which cost £40Template:Nbspmillion, opened, from Coleshill to Polesworth, on 18 December 1985 by Lynda Chalker. The motorway was now Template:Convert.<ref>Coleshill Chronicle Friday 20 December 1985, page 1, page 3</ref>
The section from the A5 at Tamworth with the A444 at Measham opened in 1986.<ref name=":0" /> The Template:Convert Polesworth North and South sections were opened on 7 August 1986 by Malcolm Sinclair, 20th Earl of Caithness.<ref>Coleshill Chronicle Friday 15 August 1986</ref>
Portway to Monkspath
The southern section of the motorway to Alvechurch just north of Redditch to form a junction with the A441, the curve around the south-eastern side of Solihull opened in September 1985 by Nicholas Ridley. The section cost £17Template:Nbspmillion, from A34 to the A435, being four months late. Construction had started in April 1983.<ref>Birmingham Mail Monday 2 September 1985, page 1</ref>
Lickey End to Portway
In 1986, the section to the A38 at Bromsgrove, Template:Convert south of Birmingham was completed.<ref name=":0" /> The section to the A38 at Lickey End, in Worcestershire, opened on 5 June 1986, from the A435 to A38, with a cavalcade of vintage buses.<ref>Birmingham Mail Thursday 5 June 1986, page 5</ref>
Catshill to Lickey End
In December 1981, the additional section through the Lickey Hills was cancelled.<ref>1981 cancellation</ref> In 1987, the motorway was completed with the opening of the link from the M5. The section, which cost £43Template:Nbspmillionm, was opened on 19 March 1987 by the Transport Secretary John Moore.<ref>Birmingham Mail Thursday 12 March 1987, page 4</ref> This completed the Catshill to Monkspath section.
History
A planned section north of the M6 running to the M1 near Nottingham was never constructed as planned being replaced by the A42 link, a trunk road which was completed in August 1989 to link with the M1 motorway near Nottingham.<ref name=":0" /> The A42 is built to a similar standard to the M42, being a grade separated dual carriageway. The Template:Convert Measham and Ashby-de-la-Zouch bypass section was opened in August 1989 at a cost of £33m. The original planned line of the M42 saw it joining the M1 further to the north, crossing what is now the A50 Derby Southern Bypass and meeting the M1 north of Bardills Island (A52/M1 interchange).Template:Cn
When first built, there was no direct connection between the M5 South and M42. Westbound M42 traffic similarly had no direct connection to the M5 North. Instead traffic had to use the A38 between M5 junction 4 and M42 junction 1.
Operational history
Junction 3a was remodelled to give priority to traffic operating between the now westbound section of the M42 and the extended M40 motorway, which opened in stages between December 1989 and January 1991.
The section of the M42 between junctions 7A and 9 was re-built as part of the M6 Toll works and now forms the link between the M6 and the southern end of the toll road. The M6 Toll opened in 2003.
Active Traffic Management with hard shoulder running and variable speed limits were introduced in 2006.
Since the 1990s, there have been constant plans to build a new service station on the motorway south of Birmingham Airport and the NEC, but this has yet to be built.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2019 Solihull Planning Committee rejected two plans to build a new service station near junction 4 or next to junction 5. However, in 2022 the Planning Inspector approved plans to allow the plans to proceed at the junction 5 scheme, subject to the road being a full ALM Smart Motorway which is currently not on plan to take place due to the cancellation of new Smart Motorways in 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The route passes No Man's Heath, Warwickshire; next door is Mercia Park, next to the end of M42, in Stretton en le Field. It was 17 miles from the M6 to the Leicestershire terminus.
History of the road number
The current road is the second incarnation of the A42. The original (1923) route was Reading to Birmingham via Oxford. The whole road was renumbered in 1935 – the section from Reading to Shillingford became part of the A329, Shillingford to Oxford became part of the A423 and Oxford to Birmingham became part of the A34. In 1993 the A423 was itself renumbered, with the section formerly the A42 becoming part of the A4074 from Reading to Oxford. The modern M42 does interchange with the former A42 at junction 4 near Solihull: Stratford Road now being numbered A34 to the north of the junction and A3400 to the south.
Former route to Trowell Moor
On 8 September 1972 Graham Page announced the last 23.8 miles, the Appleby Magna to Trowell Moor section.<ref>Times Friday 8 September 1972, page 2</ref>
The 1972 route to Trowell would pass between Donisthorpe and Oakthorpe, to the east of Norris Hill and Blackfordby, have a roundabout interchange with the A50 (now A511) at Annwell Place, follow due north to the west of Smisby, go through Sharp's Bottom Wood, to the east of Smith's Gorse Wood, following the B5006 close to the west of Ticknall, follow north-east through Robin Wood to the west of Melbourne, Derbyshire, on a 13-foot embankment pass close to the east of Stanton by Bridge, cross north-east around five miles across the Trent floodplain to a roundabout interchange with the A6 at Thulston, cross north-east the Derwent floodplain on a 20-foot embankment close to the west of Ambaston, a limited interchange, with northbound traffic on the M42 passing on to eastbound traffic on the A52 west of Risley, Derbyshire, pass right through the Erewash Valley Golf Club, and cross the M1 at the Stoney Clouds nature area, directly north of Sandiacre, next to the east side of the M1,<ref>Stoney Clouds</ref> at a free-flow interchange. From there, an M42 spur would cross north-east across Trowell Moor, and finish at the junction of the A609 and the B6004 Coventry Lane (now the A6002), at Balloon Woods near Wollaton.<ref>Stapleford & Sandiacre News Friday 29 September 1972, page 9</ref> Construction was planned for 1975, to take two or three years. <ref>Nottingham Evening Post Friday 8 September 1972, page 8</ref>
Complaints could be sent until 10 November 1972. There were 5,400 complaints.<ref>Nottingham Evening Post Tuesday 5 December 1972, page 1</ref> The public enquiry was on 11 September 1973 in Long Eaton.<ref>Nottingham Evening Post Thursday 15 March 1973, page 5</ref>
In 1973 it was proposed to meet M1 at Stanton by Dale, or possibly to have a link from the M42 at Swarkestone to the M1 at Lockington.<ref>Nottingham Guardian Tuesday 5 June 1973, page 9</ref> Stanton by Dale and Risley, Derbyshire formed an action group, and Sandiacre was quite unhappy about the project as well. A protest was led by chairman George Knott.<ref>Derby Evening Telegraph Friday 6 April 1973, page 26</ref>
Nottinghamshire County Council objected to the Stanton plan, so it was dropped in March 1976. A revised plan would be published in October 1976. In October 1976 it was expected that a link road from Appleby would meet the M1 at Lockington. The link road, from October 1976 was expected to now only be two-lane, not three lane. Requirements had been changed in the mid-1970s. Another road being looked at, at the same time in 1976, was the A616 being developed as an extension of the M67 motorway in south-east Manchester. <ref>Derby Evening Telegraph Saturday 10 July 1976, page 5</ref> Also the M64 motorway was planned to meet M1 at Lockington; the A564 reached Lockington, later the A50.
Features
Birmingham Motorway Box
Along with sections of the M5 and M6, the southern sections of the M42 form the Birmingham Motorway Box around Birmingham. Similar to an orbital motorway such as the M25 around London, and the M60 around Manchester, there are areas where this orbital system does not work well. One such point is junction 3A, the link between the M42 and the M40, where traffic is often heavy in the rush hour. The section between the M42 and M6 is often very busy too especially around junction 6 for Birmingham Airport and NEC. The 2024 newly constructed J5a should eliminate some of these queues.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Managed motorways and Active Traffic Management
Active Traffic Management (ATM) was launched as a pilot scheme on the M42 operating between junction 3a and 7 with mandatory variable speed limits, hard shoulder running, better driver information signs and a new incident management system. This system allows operators to open and close any lane to traffic in order to help manage congestion or an incident. Between 2006 and 2007, journey times have decreased by 26% northbound and 9% southbound and journey time variability has decreased by 27%.<ref name="bbc20071025">Template:Cite news</ref> Due to the success of the trial this system was later extended northbound to junction 9 of the M42 (and onto the adjacent M6 to junction 5) and southbound along the M40 to junction 15 as part of the first phase of a nationwide roll out of the rebranded 'Managed motorways; concept.
Incidents and accidents
- A collision involving 160 vehicles occurred on 10 March 1997 in fog in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire which resulted in three deaths and 60 injuries.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Drivers have rated the M42 as the worst motorway in England, in a 2024 survey from Transport Focus, scoring 56 per cent for overall satisfaction from road users, citing speed limits ("for no reason"), delays, roadworks and potholes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
New junction
In December 2024, a new junction, 5a, opened. It is located between Solihull junction 5 and Birmingham Airport/NEC junction 6 and Template:Convert of new dual carriageway the A4545 alongside the motorway. It provides access to Birmingham Airport and Birmingham Business Park and aims to reduce congestion in the area.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Work started in 2021 to build the new junction and road and finished on schedule at the end of 2024.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web File:Open Government Licence logo.svg Text was copied from this source, which is available under an Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.</ref>
Junctions
Data from driver location signs are used to provide distance and carriageway identifier information.<ref>Driver Location Signs, M42 J1-7 (map) – Highway Authority, 2009</ref> If a junction extends over several hundred metres and both start and end points are known, both are shown.
Services
A service area was planned for Hampton in Arden around 1973, of Template:Convert. The local village did not want it, known as the Friday Lane Service Area. Following a public enquiry,<ref>Coleshill Chronicle Friday 12 October 1973, page 28</ref> the service area was cancelled in February 1974.<ref>Leamington Spa Courier Friday 15 February 1974, page 3</ref>
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Template:JctbtmA42 junctions
| A42 road junctions | ||
| Northbound exits | Junction | Southbound exits |
| Road merges onto M1 continuing towards Nottingham | M1 J23A Services |
Start of road |
| East Midlands Template:Rail-interchange, Nottingham (S), Derby (A6) A453 Donington Park services |
Template:No2 No access (on-slip only) | |
| Castle Donington A453 | J14 | Template:No2 No access (on-slip only) |
| Ashby, Coalville, Leicester A511, Loughborough A512 | J13 | Ashby, Burton, Coalville A511 |
| Snarestone B4116, Ashby | J12 | Snarestone, Measham B4116 |
| Start of road | M42 J11 Services |
Nuneaton A444 Non-motorway traffic |
| Burton upon Trent, Measham A444 | Road continues as M42 towards Tamworth | |
Coordinate list
<references group=coord/>
Service stations
See also
- List of motorways in the United Kingdom
- Category:M42 motorway service stations
- Anomalously numbered roads in Great Britain
References
External links
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Template:UK motorways Template:Motorways and Trunk Roads in England Template:Transport in Worcestershire Template:GB A road zone 4