Spaghetti Junction, Aston, Birmingham, England.

Spaghetti Junction, Aston, Birmingham, England.

Spaghetti Junction, Aston, Birmingham, England. Gravelly Hill Interchange, better known by its nickname Spaghetti Junction, is junction 6 of the M6 motorway where it meets the A38(M) Aston Expressway in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Its colloquial name of “Spaghetti Junction” was coined in the 1970s by Roy Smith, a journalist from the Birmingham Evening Mail. It provides access to and from the A38 (Tyburn Road), A38 (M) (Aston Expressway), the A5127 (Lichfield Road/Gravelly Hill), and several unclassified local roads. Construction started in 1968 and the junction was opened in November 1972 by the then environment secretary Peter Walker. The opening had been scheduled for the start of the year but was delayed, according to contemporary reports, by “box girder inspections”. In an unusual meeting of old and new transport technology, the pillars supporting the flyovers over the Birmingham Canal Navigations had to be carefully placed to enable a horse-drawn canal boat 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. In November 2007, a sliproad running from the Tyburn Road onto the Aston Expressway was closed to undergo urgent repair works. 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 …

Read the original post here : Spaghetti Junction, Aston, Birmingham, England.