Pre-Christmas M6 closure at Junction 10 postponed until next year

Highways England had planned to shut Junction 10 for Walsall from Monday until Friday next week as part of a £78 million to cut congestion.

It would have led to disruption for motorists who would've been diverted off the motorway while work was carried out between 9pm and 6am.

Now transport bosses have confirmed the work has been postponed until further notice, with no date set for when it will restart next year.

It was confirmed last month the work to remodel the busy junction was on track to be completed before the Commonwealth Games arrived.

The work, which started in August last year, is seeing existing 50-year-old bridges across the motorway replaced and the number of lanes doubled from two to four.

In September this year, long delays were caused when traffic had to be diverted from the junction which was closed to allow for beams for the new bridge structures to be put in place.

Matt Crowton, Walsall Council transportation major projects and strategy manager, confirmed at a meeting on November 18 two further closures will be required in May 2022.

He said: “We are on schedule. The project was always due to complete before the Commonwealth Games next summer and that’s what the programme currently shows.

“Obviously, with any large construction project, there will be challenges along the way. The scale of works at M6 Junction 10 are quite significant but it is on programme.”

Ahead of work starting on the project, which is co-funded by Walsall Council and National Highways, bosses said the bridges were at the end of their serviceable life.

They added they would have required increasing levels of maintenance and faced the possibility of putting weight limits on them if work wasn’t undertaken.

Benefits of the new scheme are said to include reducing congestion, increasing capacity for traffic and encouraging new business to the borough.