M5 Oldbury viaduct works

[brummie_rob]

I couldn't see this anywhere on HE website or press releases but the local paper is reporting that viaduct works and waterproofing will begin between J1 and J2 from April and may last 5 years:

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/tran ... g-viaduct/

It is clear this was coming soon, the surface is atrocious on this section and they can't even be bothered to fill in the holes half the time. It is clear this work needs doing, but will be interesting to see what traffic management they use since the shoulders are narrow here and they surely won't reduce it two lanes like they are doing on the M6 at the moment, will they?!

Does anyone remember the last set of works 30 years ago? I guess they may have got away with one lane being out as traffic was lighter but this is heavily congested at the best of times.

[nick_dunn]

There was a piece on Midlands Today a couple of nights ago. I can remember this being done 30-odd years ago but not how lane control worked. The main thing I recall was that having spent about a year completing all the work, some sort of mistake must have occurred and the surface was immediately dug up again for several months and the job presumably re-done properly. I would think lane closures are inevitable - three narrow lanes would be pushing it, particularly with the sharp bends. I'm sure it will all be utter misery for us all both on the M5 and the surrounding area.
Have a nice day!

[brummie_rob]

I would also guess that a SPECS 40 might be used because of the bends too.

[linuxrocks]

I live two minutes off junction 2 but I don't think it will affect me, as I don't use the motorway all that much. They are working on the A4123 (Wolverhampton Road) at the mo - I don't know if that is related.

When I moved to the area 20 odd years ago, they had one lane on each side of the dual carriage way coned off under the motorway, for a couple of years. I never saw anybody actually working there, except when the cones blew over and the little men would appear to stand them up. They put up a sign saying "Work closed for Christmas shutdown" which amused me at the time. I assume they were working under the motorway.

I also remember one of the blocks from the side of the motorway fell off and landed in a yard of a local business which was under the viaduct. Luckily it happened at night, so nobody was hurt.

[M4 Cardiff]

What's the betting that they will start on this bit before the M6 works have finished, so there will be no way (except the toll road) to route around roadworks, and any queuing southbound into the M5 works will combine with M6 southbound queuing.

Agreed the surface is pretty poor, and given that the viaduct is probably the same age as the one on the M6 so it probably does need doing, but if they do end up with both sets of works concurrently I'm at best calling it incompetence or at worse, downright collusion with the toll management people.

[Bryn666]

It's not in the interests of the M6 Toll to syphon M5 traffic, as most of it is probably originating within the West Midlands anyway.

The fact is the Midlands Links are knackered, and you can't just delay essential repairs for the convenience of motorists, otherwise you end up with a simple fix becoming a major problem, as it has already done. I can recall roadworks 20 odd years ago and the inevitable delays from about M6 J11. My parents had a rule of thumb that you needed to be clear of the West Midlands before 7am to avoid the worst chaos when going on holiday down south.

[Big L]

Not liking the description 'misery' someone used up thread; it seems to be spreading from the local paper who describe any roadworks as bringing 'misery'.

'Some inconvenience', yes, but 'misery' seems unlikely.

That said, I'm glad my virtual daily use of the M5 has shrunk to occasional, and if it gets really bad I will use the Toll and M42 to go southwest.

[lefthandedspanner]

I live two minutes off junction 2 but I don't think it will affect me, as I don't use the motorway all that much.

On the contrary, if there's an accident on the motorway it will affect the entire area!

[Sou'wester]

It's ridiculous.

Serious question: Why not just close the M5 during the school summer holidays and do it properly and quickly?

[Chris5156]

Serious question: Why not just close the M5 during the school summer holidays and do it properly and quickly?

I don't know the answer to that, but doing so would massively intensify the scheme, possibly to a point where it was no longer realistic. It would surely only be possible if the work that was due to be carried out was not so time-dependent that it could physically happen within that timeframe, and if there were the resources available nationally (by which I mean people and machines) to be on a single site for all that time. It would also depend on whether that many people and machines could physically work side by side to do it all at once or if they'd all be in each others' way, and whether you could reasonably get all the necessary deliveries in and waste out on local roads (which would in turn already be more congested because some bright spark had closed the M5).

I know that Network Rail has to plan its work according to the amount of machinery and the number of people there are available nationally, and I expect highway maintenance has similar constraints.

[Steven]

It's ridiculous.

Serious question: Why not just close the M5 during the school summer holidays and do it properly and quickly?

Because if you actually closed the motorway, you'd force the majority of people to try to work the roads of the Black Country instead, and if you've never tried going through a massively multi-centred conurbation where most roads still go from small town centre to small town centre, then, well, that's probably a good thing.

It's basically South London with rubbish public transport and a different accent.

[mapboy]

Where's the Western Orbital when you need it?

[Truvelo]

I've mentioned it elsewhere before but the Midland Link viaducts will one day prove too expensive to keep rehabilitating. Sooner or later an alternative will need to be built. I'm sure if M5 J1 to J2 had to be rebuilt as a surface level motorway then the costs along may just swing it in favour of building the Western Orbital instead. That argument will increase dramatically if M6 J5-7 and J8-10 also had to be completely rebuilt.

[Steven]

I've mentioned it elsewhere before but the Midland Link viaducts will one day prove too expensive to keep rehabilitating. Sooner or later an alternative will need to be built. I'm sure if M5 J1 to J2 had to be rebuilt as a surface level motorway then the costs along may just swing it in favour of building the Western Orbital instead. That argument will increase dramatically if M6 J5-7 and J8-10 also had to be completely rebuilt.

I think it's inevitable that sooner or later they will run out of life. At that point, there pretty much will be no alternative but to construct the Western Orbital first, so that the Midlands Link can be closed temporarily, demolished and rebuilt - possibly as surface level routes. However, the way the conurbation has its road links laid out, with the higher capacity roads heading towards the motorways, rebuilding the M6 and M5 as anything smaller than D3M would be problematical. As a quick example, just look at roads like the Black Country Route and Black Country Spine Road - both heading for the motorways and not in the opposite direction.

[Bryn666]

I suspect the viaducts would see themselves on temporary jacks whilst new supports were built.

I would be very surprised if they were to be demolished, they're too important to the region nowadays.

[Sou'wester]

It's ridiculous.

Serious question: Why not just close the M5 during the school summer holidays and do it properly and quickly?

Because if you actually closed the motorway, you'd force the majority of people to try to work the roads of the Black Country instead, and if you've never tried going through a massively multi-centred conurbation where most roads still go from small town centre to small town centre, then, well, that's probably a good thing.

It's basically South London with rubbish public transport and a different accent.

I know it sounds crazy, but Network Rail have just done something similar with the Severn Tunnel for the electrification works.

With enough planning and notice, businesses and individuals would make plans to either avoid the area or change their driving patterns temporarily.

As a regular long distance business traveller, the thought of further long drawn out, disruptive roadworks in the West Midlands is actually misery tbh.

[Norfolktolancashire]

It's ridiculous.

Serious question: Why not just close the M5 during the school summer holidays and do it properly and quickly?

Because if you actually closed the motorway, you'd force the majority of people to try to work the roads of the Black Country instead, and if you've never tried going through a massively multi-centred conurbation where most roads still go from small town centre to small town centre, then, well, that's probably a good thing.

It's basically South London with rubbish public transport and a different accent.

I know it sounds crazy, but Network Rail have just done something similar with the Severn Tunnel for the electrification works.

With enough planning and notice, businesses and individuals would make plans to either avoid the area or change their driving patterns temporarily.

As a regular long distance business traveller, the thought of further long drawn out, disruptive roadworks in the West Midlands is actually misery tbh.

The M6 toll should have its toll removed temporarily during these works to allow through traffic to use it and the M42 to avoid the roadworks, leaving local traffic to use diversion routes. If it could be done engineering-wise it is a good idea to close this section of the M5 for a couple of months at the most to complete the works.

Long term either the M6 toll should be freed permanently of its toll and the M42 widened, or a more costly western bypass of the West Mids conurbation constructed. Both options would drastically reduce the existing M5/M6 traffic through the conurbation and reduce the local air pollution it causes.

[fras]

Maybe the answer is to put tolls onto the Midland Links. This would cut out a lot of short and local journeys.I would think £10 a day should do it !

[Steven]

Maybe the answer is to put tolls onto the Midland Links. This would cut out a lot of short and local journeys.I would think £10 a day should do it !

It would also totally trash the economies of Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Telford and the Black Country...

[brummie_rob]

What's the betting that they will start on this bit before the M6 works have finished, so there will be no way (except the toll road) to route around roadworks, and any queuing southbound into the M5 works will combine with M6 southbound queuing.

The good news is that the restrictions were removed last night it seems along M6 J8 although there are still overnight closures until the end of the month. The works have finished around a month early.

However the Northbound works are set to start in January, so that will be running around the same time as the M5 works.