M42 Monkspath - Coleshill

Monkspath Coleshill
Opened
Route
M42
Start point
4
Monkspath
End point
7A
Coleshill

Originally had junction numbers 1 to 4 in the opposite direction. Included construction of another 1.5 mile section northwards which remained unopened until 1985.

Road scheme and chronology data is courtesy SABRE (where much of it was gathered by member Ross Spur), with additional data from the UK Motorway Archive, the Scottish Roads Archive and the Northern Ireland Roads Site.

In this section

What's new

The road that made no sense

It was the UK's only single-carriageway motorway, and twenty years ago it ceased to exist. This is the story of the strange fascination it held, and of my place in history.

The forever bottleneck, part 2

The second part of the story, where we learn why exactly the M4 gets narrower on the final approach to Europe’s biggest city.

The forever bottleneck, part 1

The M4 into London was one of the UK's earliest and most ambitious motorway projects. It was bold, pioneering... and almost instantly regretted.

Share this page

Have you seen...

Queensway Tunnel

The engineering marvel of its day, much altered and maligned ever since: this is the original Mersey Tunnel in all its glory.

Buy me a Coffee - make a small donation towards the running of Roads.org.ukBuy me a coffee