The moment two M42 Junction 6 upgrade bridges weighing 2,000 tonnes are put in place near Birmingham Airport

A timelapse video shows the incredible moment two new bridges weighing more than 2,000 tonnes were moved into place as part of the £282m upgrade of the M42 at Junction 6 near Birmingham Airport in Solihull. It took 40 hours to complete the works.

The two bridges, weighing a total of 2,050 tonnes, are part of the major upgrade to the section at the road where bottlenecks occur at junction 6 to allow smoother journeys on and off the A45. Once complete, this will also support access to Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International train station.

The create a new junction, National Highways installed two new bridges across the M42 last weekend. For that, the M42 had been closed to motorists from 00:01 on Saturday 15 October to 05:00 on Monday 17 October. The M42 northbound and southbound is now fully open.

National Highways said they decided to place the two bridges into place on one weekend rather than two to avoid less disruption for motorists in the future.

Infrastructure company Skanska UK is delivering the project for National Highways. The main construction works commenced early 2021 and is expected to end in 2024-25.

What does the upgrade include?

The major upgrade also includes building:

• a new 2.4km dual carriageway link road, aligned to the west of Bickenhill 
• a new junction (5a) on the M42 motorway, approximately 1.8km south of the existing M42 Junction 6 (Solihull) 
• two new roundabouts north of the B4102 Solihull Road on either side of the M42 motorway 
• a new overbridge above the A45 near to the Arden Hotel, providing cyclists and walkers with a safer route to cross the A45

What did National Highways say?

National Highways Senior Project Manager, Leyton Rahman said: “This new time-lapse footage shows the methodical and complex work of putting the new bridges into place as part of our upgrade at M42 junction 6.

“Given the scale of the task involved, the bridges were moved into place using specialist equipment and we needed to do this using as full carriageway closure. We’re grateful to drivers for heeding our advice and planning their journeys before setting off and we’d like to thank them for their patience.

“We’re making good progress on the upgrade and once the work is complete, it will alleviate congestion at a well-known bottleneck on the M42.”

Chris Good, Project Director from Skanska - the contractor responsible for building the project - added: “This was a major milestone in the M42 upgrade and we’ve worked closely with National Highways to plan this work carefully to keep disruption to a minimum.

“Safety is always paramount especially with this type of complex operation and we’re pleased to see both structures now safely in place across the M42.

“We also know that the M42 is an incredibly busy part of the Midlands motorway network and by doing this work under a full road closure, we could move two bridges into place during one weekend rather than having closing it again in the near future.

“We’re grateful to motorists for their patience while we carry out this vital congestion-busting upgrade.”

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