M5 motorway

M5 motorway in the UK
map
Basic data
Operator:	Highways Agency
Overall length:	262.2 km (162.9  mi )
Countries :	England
Development condition:	six lanes
The Motorway in Devon
Course of the road West Midlands The NORTH WEST , Walsall , Wolverhampton , London , Birmingham (1)  West Bromwich , Sandwell , Birmingham (2)  Birmingham, Dudley , Wolverhampton, Sandwell (3)  Birmingham, Kidderminster Worcestershire Frankley (4)  Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Stourbridge (4A)  The NORTH EAST, London, Birmingham, Redditch (5)  Droitwich , Bromsgrove (6)  Worcester , Kidderminster, Evesham (7)  Worcester, Evesham B4084 Strensham (towards Birmingham) Strensham (towards Exeter) (8th)  SOUTH WALES, Ross Gloucestershire (9)  Tewkesbury , Evesham (10)  Cheltenham ( HAS Birmingham) (11)  Cheltenham, Gloucester (11A)  Gloucester, Cirencester , London (12)  Gloucester B4008 (13)  Stroud , Dursley Michaelwood (14)  Dursley, Thornbury B4509 (15)  London, Bristol , SOUTH WALES, Chepstow (16)  Thornbury, Filton (17)  Bristol, Clifton, Severn Beach B4055 Bristol (18 / 18A)  Bristol, Briston Airport , Shirehampton, Avonmouth , Aust, SOUTH WALES, Cardiff , Newport B4054 Avon Somerset (19)  Clifton, Portishead, Royal Portbury Dock Gordano (next to the junction) (20)  Clevedon , Nailsea B3133 (21)  Weston-super-Mare , Bristol Sedgemoor (22)  Weston-super-Mare, Highbridge, Burnham-on-Sea (23)  Bridgwater , Glastonbury , Wells (24)  Bridgwater , Minehead Bridgwater (next to the junction) (25)  Taunton , Yeovil , Honiton , Weymouth Taunton Deane (26)  Taunton, Wellington Devon (27)  Barnstaple, Tiverton , Wellington, Willand (28)  Cullompton , Honiton B3181 Cullompton (next to the junction) (29)  Honiton, Exeter Airport (30)  Dawlish, Exeter , Exmouth, Sidmouth Exeter (next to the junction) Exe (31)  Bodmin , Crediton, Exeter, Okehampton End of the highway Continue on  Plymouth ( Torquay )

The M5 at the level of a Roman road. Bridge over the road to Kempsey Common (dt. Commons ).

The M5 motorway ( English for 'M5 motorway') is a motorway in England . It runs from the M6 at Great Barr on the outskirts of Birmingham to Exeter in Devon and largely replaces the A38 A-road. At the end of the motorway near Exeter, the motorway splits into the A30 to Okehampton and Cornwall and the A38 to Plymouth and Torquay . The M5 is the main traffic axis in England's south-west and is therefore very busy, especially in summer.

history

The first section was opened on July 20, 1962 and is located between junction 4 (Lydiate Ash, southwest of Birmingham) and 8, where the motorway connected to the already completed M50 Motorway on a trumpet triangle. This section was the first part of the original Birmingham to Bristol motorway. Three years later it was extended to junction 3. In 1970 the section was built up to the junction with the M6, with the motorway mostly running on elevated roads. In 1971 you finally reached the junction with the M4 ( Almondsbury Interchange , a Maltese cross , northwest of Bristol), where the short stretch from the M4 junction to Avonmouth (AS 15 to 18) was opened to traffic as early as 1969.

In 1970 the first stretch was built south of the Avon River in the Gordano Valley (between AS 19 and 20), where the carriageways run at different heights. The routes to the south of Bridgwater were built by 1973, but were only connected to the rest of the motorway in 1974 by the Avonmouth Bridge . Construction continued with further series of bypasses until the last part at Exeter (including the bridge over the Exe ) was opened to traffic in 1977. A short section of the A38 around Cullompton, opened in 1969, was converted to the M5 in 1975.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, the original section between AS 3 and 8 had to be costly expanded from four to six lanes in a parallel expansion due to the high traffic density; The motorway was already six-lane north and south. The trumpet triangle at Strensham was converted into a roundabout junction. In this process, a new lane was created next to the existing motorway; after its completion, one direction of travel was relocated there. The old lane was then widened and released for the other direction after construction was completed. Parts of the "third", now unused, lane have been dismantled and the strip has been re-greened and planted. All of this happened without significant traffic restrictions, although many overpasses had to be demolished. Some others remain untouched to this day, with no hard shoulder under the overpass.

Bulky pile at Taunton 2011

On November 4, 2011, a massive rear-end collision occurred on the M5 near Taunton north of junction 25 at around 8:30 p.m., with a total of 34 vehicles, including some trucks, being involved. According to eyewitnesses, a large fireball was created as a result of the impact, which burned some vehicles. According to the police, seven dead and 51 injured were recorded. The cause has so far been unclear: according to various sources, it could be thick fog, drizzle and consequently an inappropriate driving style or smoke from a fireworks event at a local rugby club that reduced visibility to a few meters. A 60-meter-long section of roadway damaged by the fire had to be repaired before the motorway could be reopened in both directions on the evening of November 6th.

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Motorway Archive. M5. Bristol to Birmingham Motorway ( Memento of the original from July 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ M5. Widening between Junctions 3 & 8 ( Memento of the original dated August 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ Seven confirmed dead in M5 accident in Somerset, BBC.co.uk, accessed November 7, 2011
4. ^ M5 crash: police investigate rugby club fireworks display, guardian.co.uk, accessed November 7, 2011

Web links

Commons : M5 motorway  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Information on the M5 at cbrd.co.uk