M42 MOTORWAY

:''For other uses of the term 'M42', please see M42.''
The 'M42 motorway' is a major road in England. The 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. The section between the M40 and M6 road forms – though unsigned as such – a part of Euroroute E05.
After Tamworth the road is downgraded to dual-carriageway status as the A42 road. The junctions on this section, 12-14, are numbered as a continuation of the motorway.
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.
Along with sections of the M5 and M6, the southern sections of the M42 form an orbital motorway around Birmingham. Much like the M25 around London, 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.
Junction 6 for Birmingham International Airport and the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) can also be problem area when major events such as Crufts are taking place at the NEC.
When the M42 was going through the planning stages in 1977 there was great opposition to the development by the residents of Bromsgrove. Ironically, much of the town's population now depends on this motorway (and the M5) for their commuting needs. Many of the people attracted to the town from the 1980s onwards have come because of the motorway links.
The motorway is frequently used to test new technologies. The Highways Agency is currently implementing an Active Traffic Management (ATM) system between junction 3a and 7 of the M42. This is a new pilot motorway scheme which combines a number of new technologies with some tried and tested motorway traffic management techniques. The scheme includes mandatory variable speed limits, as on the M25, enhanced driver information signs and a new congestion and incident management system. This system allows operators to open and close any lane to traffic in order to help manage congestion or an incident. This includes using the hard shoulder as a running lane between junctions under controlled conditions.
The road also used innovative road surfaces, which were not adopted elsewhere because of the noise created. The latest scheme to be tested on a long gently climbing stretch is one in which eastbound HGVs are not allowed to overtake during daytime hours. This scheme was implemented because the route is often congested on account of the motorway having only four lanes (two lanes in each direction) as it leaves the West Midlands.
The section of road between junctions 3A (M40) and the M5 was going to be renumbered as part of the M40 when it was extended to Birmingham, and the junction was built with prority going to the now westbound section of the M42 and the M40 towards London. However when the junction was opened, no renumbering took place.

Contents

Use of Hard Shoulder

Junctions

See also

External links

Use of Hard Shoulder

Main articles: Active Traffic Management

M42 in the UK has recently introduced a system whereby the hard shoulder can be used as an extra lane during busy periods on a small section. This section runs from Junction 3A with the M40 (towards the south-west) and Junction 7 with the M6 (towards the north-east). Rather than having a hard shoulder, the section has a number of emergency refuge areas (lay-bys) roughly every 500 metres. A side effect of this is at junctions 4 and 5, the conflict with the slip roads had meant that there are no exit count down markers. Originally this was justified as they were no longer exits but diverging lanes. More recently these were acknowledged by the Highways Agency to be a design flaw as the only marker is an ambiguous "End of Hard Shoulder" sign - the Agency was reluctant to install markers due to the potential confusion of the refuge being confused with a slip road.

Junctions

'M42 Motorway'
Northbound exits	Junction	Southbound exits
To/From the M5 for The South West & North East		To/From the M5 for The South West & North East
	1	A38 for Bromsgrove
A441 for Birmingham (South), Redditch and Hopwood Park services	2	A441 for Birmingham (South), Redditch and Hopwood Park services
A435 for Birmingham (South), Redditch & Evesham	3	A435 for Birmingham (South), Redditch & Evesham
M40 for London, Warwick and Stratford-on-Avon		M40 for London, Warwick and Stratford-on-Avon
A3400 & A34 for Shirley & Henley-in-Arden	4	A3400 & A34 for Shirley & Henley-in-Arden
A41 for Solihull	5	A41 for Solihull
A45 for Birmingham (South East), The National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Birmingham International Airport & Coventry (South & West)	6	A45 for Birmingham (South East), The National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Birmingham International Airport & Coventry (South & West)
M6 for The North West & Birmingham (East, North & Central)
M6 for London, Coventry & M1
	7b	M6 Toll for London, Coventry & M6
	8	M6 for Birmingham (East, North, West & Central)
M6 Toll for Lichfield & The North West	8a
A446 for Coventry (North & East), Lichfield, Brownhills & A4097 for Sutton Coldfield	9	A446 for Coventry (North & East), Lichfield, Brownhills & A4097 for Sutton Coldfield
A5 for Tamworth, Tamworth services & Nuneaton	10	A5 for Tamworth, Tamworth services & Nuneaton
A444 for Burton upon Trent		A444 for Burton upon Trent
	A42

Continues as A42 to/from The North, East Midlands Airport & M1

See also

★ List of motorways in the United Kingdom

★

External links

★ CBRD Motorway Database - M42

★ The Motorway Archive - M42