Skip to main content

Spaghetti Junction reaches 40 year landmark

The famous Spaghetti Junction in Birmingham, central England marks its 40th birthday this week. A firm divider of opinion among the millions of motorists that use it each year, its sprawling concrete arteries at junction six of the M6 connect the A38(M) Aston Expressway into central Birmingham. Officially opened on 24 May 1972, the Gravelly Hill Interchange – Spaghetti Junction’s official name - took four years to build and cost between £9m and £10m. It was subsequently dubbed Spaghetti Junction by newspap
May 21, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
The famous Spaghetti Junction in Birmingham, central England marks its 40th birthday this week.

A firm divider of opinion among the millions of motorists that use it each year, its sprawling concrete arteries at junction six of the M6 connect the A38(M) Aston Expressway into central Birmingham.

Officially opened on 24 May 1972, the Gravelly Hill Interchange – Spaghetti Junction’s official name - took four years to build and cost between £9m and £10m.

It was subsequently dubbed Spaghetti Junction by newspaper reporter, Roy Smith, when he worked on the Birmingham Mail.

Perplexing some motorists, its numerous carriageways, supported by more than 500 concrete columns, follow the line of the local canal and river network on elevated sections.

Motorists voted it the best-known sight seen from UK motorways in an 3443 RAC survey in 2007.

In March this year, visitors to Spaghetti Junction were given the chance to be pushed underneath the interchange as part of an art project.

As part of the two-day Track exhibition created by artist Graeme Miller, people got to on boards and be pushed sideways along a 100m track to see the underside of the Junction’s five different levels of roads above.

After its official opening 40 years ago, coach operators ran sightseeing tours at 65p a head.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • A thousand birthday greetings for US-Canada Thousand Island Bridge
    August 21, 2018
    The Canada-US Thousand Island Bridge system celebrated its 80th birthday in August with presentations and an open house at its US headquarters. The 33.7km three-bridge system over the St Lawrence River took 16 months to build and was completed 10 weeks ahead of schedule. It runs from Collins Landing near Alexandria Bay in the US state of New York to the small town of Ivy Lea in the Canadian province of Ontario. The system connects US Interstate 81 and Canada’s Highway 401, a major motorway between Montre
  • Emergent markets key for formwork sector growth
    May 21, 2014
    Central and south-east Europe are hotbeds for new highway infrastructure projects utilising cutting-edge formwork solutions, while a number of leading formwork manufacturers are also looking at emergent markets for growth. Guy Woodford reports Travelling between Hungary’s capital Budapest and Southern Dalmatia now takes less time thanks to the Pan-European Corridor Vc – European route 73. Numerous tunnels and bridges are erected along the 397km stretch of the European route 73 through Bosnia owing to the
  • AmeySRM awarded UK's A533 bridge work
    July 14, 2020
    Under the €23 million contract work will start early 2021 for completion in summer 2022.
  • Action call for ''Britain's worn-our road markings''
    March 2, 2012
    Nearly a third of the length of Britain's single carriageway A roads have white lines so worn out that they do not meet recognised standards, according to the LifeLines Report, an assessment of more than 2,400km miles of the network.