M5 motorway

The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Bromwich and west of Birmingham through Sandwell Valley. It continues past Bromsgrove (and from Birmingham and Bromsgrove is part of the Birmingham Motorway Box), Droitwich Spa, Worcester, Tewkesbury, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Stroud, Bristol, Portishead, Clevedon, Weston-super-Mare, Bridgwater, Taunton, Tiverton, Cullompton, before terminating at junction 31 to the south of Exeter. At a total length of 163 miles (262 km), the M5 is the 4th longest motorway in the UK.

The M5 quite closely follows the route of the A38 road. The two deviate slightly around Bristol and the area south of Bristol from junctions 16 to the Sedgemoor services north of junction 22. The A38 goes straight through the centre of Bristol and passes by Bristol Airport, while the M5 skirts both, with access to the airport from junctions 18, 19 or 22. The A38 continues south into Devon from junction 31, near Exminster. Junction 15 of the M5 is a large four-level stack interchange, named the Almondsbury Interchange, where the M5 meets the M4. The Avonmouth Bridge, between junctions 18 and 19, is often a bottleneck during heavy traffic periods, due mainly to lane drops at either end of the bridge for the respective junctions, and the sharp angle in the centre of the bridge, which causes larger vehicles to slow considerably.^{[citation needed]} There are split-level carriageways where the M5 ascends the hillsides above the Gordano Valley, between Portishead, junction 19 and Clevedon, junction 20. Between junction 21, Weston-super-Mare and junction 22, Burnham-on-Sea, the M5 passes by an isolated landmark hill called Brent Knoll and crosses the western end of the Mendip Hills. The Willow Man sculpture is visible from both carriageways, and acts as a landmark just to the south of junction 23, which as of 2021^[update] had degraded and lost its head and arms.

In the mid-1960s, the section down to Bristol, was planned to be only likely two lanes, at the best.

In late June 1964, the extension to Edithmead was announced. The route would cross the Avon at a large viaduct at Bredon; it now became the Birmingham - Bristol - East Brent motorway.

By 1964, the M5 was planned to go no further than East Brent (Brent Knoll). The Somerset county surveyor had written in his annual report in June 1964 that the motorway should be extended to go beyond Exeter. A route had been formed around 1954. An official survey for a possible motorway beyond East Brent was carried out by Somerset from July 1964. On 3 April 1968, Barbara Castle announced the definite extension from Edithmead to Exeter, as a motorway. Before this date, this section to Exeter could have been simply modest upgrades of the A38.

When construction of the motorway reached Avonmouth in August 1969, the plan was to reach Edithmead by late 1972, and to reach Exeter by the mid-1970s.

The first 26 miles (42 km) of the M5 motorway was constructed as a dual two-lane motorway with Worcestershire County Council acting as engineer. This section – from junction 4 (Lydiate Ash) in the north to a trumpet junction with the M50 in the south – opened in July 1962. The section was constructed by Monk, being 28 miles, from Lydiate Ash to the M50 junction 1, with the A38, at Brockeridge Common (Twyning).

This original section of the M5, from junctions 4 to 8, was widened to provide six lanes, by late June 1993, by the technique of 'parallel widening'. During this work, the northbound Strensham services were rebuilt further away from the modified M50 junction.