Where is gravelly hill interchange

A multi-level junction at Gravelly Hill that enabled the M6 to intersect with the existing junction on the A38 Lichfield Road and with the Aston Ring Road, and a junction at Ray Hall are the two most important junctions on the route. The name stuck, and has been used to describe similar-looking junctions around the world as well. The Spaghetti Junction was made with 13, tons of steel reinforcement and , cubic yards , m 3 of concrete. It is supported by concrete columns, with the highest being 80ft tall.

A factory, a bank, houses, a block of flats and the Erdington Arms pub were some of the properties demolished to make way for the interchange. Three water mains, a gas main and a way Post Office cable duct were also some of the utilities that were diverted during construction. When the road was officially opened by the then Secretary of State for the Environment, Peter Walker MP, on 24 May , the average flow of cars on the Spaghetti Junction was 40, a day.

This rose to , in , and more than , in Michelin-starred chef Glynn Purnell created a dish in for Highways England, to celebrate 50 years since work started on the construction of the Spaghetti Junction. See the recipe. If you were to drive along every road of the junction itself, you would have to travel around 73 miles. The job you end up with in civil engineering is likely to link back to what you studied at school, college or university. Here you can see your options at any age.

Connected communities formed a link between 3 major motorway routes. Economy boosted improved connections into busy hubs of Birmingham.

Used engineering skill transport planning, road building. Spaghetti Junction in Birmingham. Following a trial at the TRL lab, the new markings were joined by yellow signs explaining to through traffic "new road markings ahead" and "stay in lane through [diamond] markings": the theory was that this would reduce collisions approaching the junction.

This was considered a success and the markings remained. Early plans of the M6 showed a different design for the junction consisting of an elongated roundabout. This simpler design pre-dates plans for the A38 M which the city council proposed much later. The interchange was one of the last sections of M6 to be completed until the Cumberland Gap extension in The A38 M meant a more complexed junction was required to handle the expected level of traffic.

Tenders for construction were announced by the then transport minister, Richard Marsh, in July , with construction starting later in the year. In a press release when the junction opened, the engineers claimed it had been "carefully designed to provide for all the movements and yet keep the effect on land and property to a minimum".

It was built mostly over allotments and a boating lake, with the River Tame and canal needing to be realigned. The completion of the last section of the M6 through the Midlands had a knock on effect of traffic, much of which diverted from the A5 onto the new motorway.

By the late s, urban road building of this style had fallen out of favour, with local MP Robin Hodgson noting that many residents had complained about the increased noise along the whole stretch of M6 in the area.

Similarly, Julius Silverman, then MP for Birmingham Erdington, had called for noise screening barriers to be erected around the junction. A38 M. Construction started in and the junction opened in November by the then environment secretary Peter Walker. In an unusual meeting of old and new transport technology, the pillars supporting the flyovers over the Grand Union Canal had to be carefully placed to enable a horse-drawn canal barge to pass under the interchange without fouling the towing rope.

The junction has undergone major repair work several times since, due to the very heavy traffic through the junction, and some alleged cost-saving measures during its construction. Upon inspection, it was found that Spaghetti Junction itself was in need of repair work due to salt and grit weakening the joints in the structure. The importance of the site for so many services led to the belief that it was a strategic target for a Soviet nuclear weapon during the Cold War , although this has yet to be verified.

In the National Lottery gameshow Winning Lines in the final round, "Wonderwall", the prize for answering only one question correctly was usually a holiday to Spaghetti Junction.

Elastica mentioned it in their "Car Song". The Birmingham-born comedian Jasper Carrot once claimed in his stage act that Spaghetti Junction also included two dead-end s. Winners on the s revival of ITV talent show " New Faces " hosted by Marti Caine from the Birmingham Hippodrome were decided by the audience with a gigantic lightboard known as Spaghetti Junction lighting up to a varying degree as the audience pushed buttons.

The Mensa West Midlands newsletter is named 'Spaghetti', after the famous junction.