M6 junction 10 improvement

M6 junction 10 congestion affects the local community and businesses, particularly during morning and evening peak times. The improvements will ease congestion and reduce journey times for the thousands of drivers who use it every day.

Start date January - March 2020

End date 2022-23

Cost £78 million

Current progress on the M6 junction 10 scheme

Latest updates

31 July 2020

Footpath closure

We’ve recently closed the footpath that runs across the junction, so we can safely start work to widen the A454 Wolverhampton Road West, the slip roads and the roundabout itself. This closure was originally scheduled for the 13 July 2020, but we needed to carry out additional vegetation clearance on the alternative route to ensure it is safe to use. The footpath will be closed until August 2021.

An alternative route is available via Bloxwich Lane, Churchill Road and Queen Elizabeth Avenue, which is a route we have recently improved. Please view our map for the alternative route.

We’ve also closed the footpath on the Wolverhampton Road from Pisces Fish and Chip shop, up to Tempus Drive. This will be closed for 6 weeks and an alternative pedestrian route is available.
15 May 2020
Vegetation around the junction

We’ve started removing vegetation around the junction to create the space needed to complete the work safely. We’re carrying out this work Monday to Friday mostly during the day. We’ll need to close some roads overnight to carry out this work.

Before we start the main work, we’re holding some public information events. If you’d like to find out more about our proposals and speak to a member of the team, please come and visit us on the dates and times listed below.
- Friday 31 January 2020 2pm to 8pm at the Village Hotel, Tempus Drive, Walsall WS2 8TJ
- Saturday 8 February 2020 10am - 2pm at Asda, George St, Walsall WS1 1RS
- Monday 10 February 2020 1pm to 8pm with our engagement van in the car park at Tesco Willenhall, Neptune Industrial Estate, Willenhall WV13 2PZ
- Thursday 13 February 2020 10am to 3pm at Boundary Mills, Junction 10 Retail Park, Bentley Mill Way, Walsall WS2 0LE
In February 2020, we’ll complete the vegetation clearance work. We’ll also carry out work to prepare the ground, which is expected to complete in spring 2020. Following this we’ll start construction to widen the junction in summer 2020.

In early February 2020, we'll close lane 1 of the M6 in both directions through junction 10. We'll also put a 60mph speed limit in place for the safety of motorists and our workers. Lane 1 will be closed for the duration of the work, the other three lanes will remain open during daytime hours to keep traffic flowing.

We’ll need some overnight lane closures on the slip roads at junction 10, and occasional overnight lane closures on the M6. We’ve planned to do this at overnight when traffic flows are lowest to minimise any disruption.

We'll have free recovery in place around the junction to safely assist and clear any vehicles which break down within the scheme boundary.

We’ll work hard to complete this work as quickly and as safely as possible.
Utility surveys

Since February, we have completed vegetation clearance around the junction. We’ve also carried out non-intrusive surveys of buried existing services such as electricity, gas, BT using ground penetrating radar (GPR) to verify their locations. Currently, we have three drilling and grouting rigs on site that are grouting redundant mines below the new bridges and retaining walls. This will ensure that the ground is stable and secure for when we put the new bridges in.

We’ve also started construction of our main site compound, which will be in John Hill’s yard to the east of the junction.

We’ve closed one lane on the M6, through the junction to allow us enough working space to enable the construction of the new bridge abutments.

See more updates

Project information

The M6 junction 10 currently experiences significant congestion and traffic delays, particularly during morning and evening peak times. Road capacity problems have been identified as one of the main transport issues facing the Black Country within the West Midlands Local Transport Plan.

The congestion includes queuing on the roundabout and the motorway slip roads, the Black Country Route and other roads leading to the junction. The improvements will ease congestion and reduce journey times for the thousands of drivers who use it every day

We're working collaboratively with Walsall council to deliver the scheme within the current budget and to meet commitments made in our Delivery Plan and Walsall Council’s major transport scheme priorities for the period 2015-19.

We have a target completion period but we’re working as quickly as possible and expect to complete the improvement work in 2022.

As part of the improvement work we’ll:

replace the two existing bridges with two new, four-lane bridges to increase capacity
widen the existing junction slip roads
improve the slip roads and approaches on the local road network
widen the westbound A454 Black Country Route

Benefits:

Provide a freer flowing network by:

reducing congestion on the A454 (Black Country Route and Wolverhampton Road) and other roads linking to the junction
reducing ‘rat-running’ traffic on nearby routes
reducing queuing on the motorway slip roads

Support economic growth by:

improving access to the strategic road network
attracting new business and development to the area
improving links to nearby Enterprise Zone sites and other development sites

Provide a safe and maintainable network by:

replacing the bridges, avoiding major disruptive maintenance work in the future
improving conditions for cyclists, pedestrians and horse-riders for crossing the junction safely