I finished work at 2pm, it was beautiful weather so instead of going down the pub like normal folk I decided to spend an hour under Spaghetti Junction (SJ from now on) with my camera taking photo's.....here are the first few

The roundabout that connects all the main routs onto and off the Junction is called Salford Circus and like all good Bham Junctions it's also a pedestrian right of way connected by subways....nice
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0015a.jpg

The next three pics are taken in the centre of Salford Circus, the elevated roads above are just the approaches from Erdington and the Tyburn Road (A38). The main Aston Expressway/M6 interchange is several hundred yards away.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0014a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0119.jpg

Confused??
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0012.jpg

A couple of canals meet under SJ as well, I started following one which runs its course toward the city centre via Neachells and Aston. I didn't wander too far down it just far enough to turn back and take a couple of photos of the elevated M6 going over
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0018.jpg

A nice bit of summer colour.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0016a.jpg

This probably what stopped me going further.....they're bloody everywhere, and vicious
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0019.jpg

Heading back towards SJ, there also seems to be a river of some sort flowing under there as well...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0020.jpg

...and even the canals are elevated
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0021.jpg

Back on the main canal that flows under SJ, I timed it just right to catch this geezer going past, it almost looks like a countryside scene....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0022.jpg

......till you zoom out.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0023a.jpg

It's that river again, this also looks like a countryside scene...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0028a.jpg

....till you zoom out and get the elevated M6 in shot
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0029.jpg

I'm not 100% on my facts but I'm sure the M6 between SJ and Junction 6 is the longest elevated road in Europe at about 3 miles, I went for a walk in that direction and took a few more snaps
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0026a.jpg

I've never ventured out that far. some very impressive engineering and you got some really nice pics there smiley.

It's hard to capture it on camera but it is quite a sight standing under this
huge elevated roadway and being able to see it just going on and on.

This photo's a few hundred yards further on from the previous.....getting nearer to that wall of graffiti
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0031a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0032a.jpg

And this what's over the other side, just the M6 going on and on. It is quite low here and there were a few disconcerting creaking noises above me but I'm sure it's not due to fall down just yet....the dip in ground to the right is where that river is running.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0033.jpg

Bizzare!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0036.jpg

I've never ventured out that far. some very impressive engineering and you got some really nice pics there smiley.

It's quite an experience believe me......I've yonks more photo's to go yet....some of them are really surprising, hopefully I should get them all posted tonight

This next photo is the furthest I ventured in that direction, the river seems to be flowing in a man made chaneel now. I tried to get a another shot showing the M6 still going on and on but a bloody lorry drove over the bridge in front.....wasn't expecting that.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0037.jpg

Before turning round I tried a few arty farty shots of reflections, graffiti and the general crap that is under there.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0042.jpg

:crazy:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0041a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0047.jpg

Rarrghh!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0054.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0049a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0043a.jpg

look forward to seeing them later smiley. I've finished work and as its beautiful weather im going down the pub like normal folk :)

God knows what I took a picture of this for?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0050a.jpg

Batman!!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0058.jpg

As well as the strange creaks from overhead you've also got these things buzzing away close by.....quite strange under there
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0055.jpg

Here's that graffiti wall again, but the other side. Right, now I'm heading back towards SJ proper
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0059.jpg

look forward to seeing them later smiley. I've finished work and as its beautiful weather im going down the pub like normal folk :)

Fair play to you, have a couple for me

Nearly back at Salford Circus now....I'm gonna be following the canal straight ahead, the canal to the left is the one I followed earlier before the geese made me turn back
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0061.jpg

Just in case you're short sighted
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0060.jpg

The sign's pointing that way so when I got a clear shot I took a pic towards the City Centre and zoomed in on HCT, I think you can make out The Rotunda, McClaren and the Sentinals there as well.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0062.jpg

This lovely long dark tunnel is where the canal flows under the main bulk of SJ...I think you've got the M6 and most of the Aston Expressways sliproads going over here
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0065.jpg

Loads of Graffiti too
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0064.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0067.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0066.jpg

and it is quite safe walking around under SJ even though it looks well dodgy.....there are plenty of these around
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0063.jpg

great pics x

Out the other side and there are slip roads flying over your head here there and everywhere!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0069.jpg

and going everywhere
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0068.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0071.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0072.jpg

bit of an arty farty one
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0070.jpg

There are quite a few old bridges like this under there as well, I know the New Street to Sutton Coldfield line runs under there too so I presume this is it going overhead.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0073.jpg

Looking back....madness!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0074.jpg

Just in case Accura gets to read this there are also Pylons mixed in with SJ's madness so I got him a few pics....he loves his Pylons
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0075.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0078.jpg

And finally out the other side, a pic of the canal heading wherever it's heading to
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0079.jpg

and looking back toward SJ
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0080.jpg

Fantastic pictures.

I love the way there is a whole different world right underneath you when using SJ, yet you are almost completley oblivious to it.

I totally agree Jolon there's a whole dark, atmospheric, subteranean world under there and most folk whizz past it at 70mph....anyway I'm not finished yet the best is yet to come.

I took a few more on my way back to Salford Circus.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0076.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0084.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0085.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0086.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0088.jpg

i bet you was being closely watched under there smileyface thats probably one of britains most important junctions a major terroist target.

There are a surprising number of people under there walking dogs, cycling, fishing and whatever else people get up to under there.....eh hum. At Salford Circus you can get back onto the main Lichfield Road which heads into the City a short walk brings you to a park which I presume is called Salford Park. It's quite a surprise to those who've never been there before because of the lake in the middle of it and how peaceful it can be even though you're next to one of Europe's busiest interchanges.

Crossing over the river towards the Park
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0091.jpg

The afore mentioned lake. SJ would be over my right shoulder as I take that pic and you can make out the elevated Aston Expressway on the right side of the pic
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0097.jpg

Zooming in you can make out Villa Park
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0096.jpg

Zooming in on the Church it all looks very peaceful and serene
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0099.jpg

i bet you was being closely watched under there smileyface thats probably one of britains most important junctions a major terroist target.

Yeah that's a good point actually, there were plenty of cameras under there and there was one guy who I thought was a bit odd at the time....he was cycling around everywhere, I must have crossed paths with him at least 5 or 6 times, probably being paranoid but you never know!!

I had a walk around the lake in a clockwise direction

Aston Expressway to my right
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0098.jpg

Looking back to SJ
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0095.jpg

A bit further round and a few more of SJ and the Aston Expressway
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0103.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0101.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0104.jpg

At the opposite end of the lake looking back
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0105.jpg

zooming in
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0106.jpg

A nice shady tree, probably full of bugs and spiders so I didn't venture any closer
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0107.jpg

On the other side of lake walking back, I had to get a few more of the elevated bits
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0108.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0109.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0110.jpg

Look at those curves!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0111.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0112.jpg

That's a sublime set of pictures there Smiley.

Whenever you read something about Brum in the national press it always goes on about how it's trying to lose its association with supposed "national joke" Spaghetti Junction.

Bollocks to that. New St Station, Digbeth, the old Bull Ring were shameful and embarrassing, but Spaghetti Junction is absolutely beautiful. If that's to be the symbol of Brum then bring it on.

Even the Aston tower blocks look nice(ish) from here....who can see the BT Tower poking over the trees?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0113.jpg

Yey....in its full glory
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0118.jpg

That's a sublime set of pictures there Smiley.

Whenever you read something about Brum in the national press it always goes on about how it's trying to lose its association with supposed "national joke" Spaghetti Junction.

Bollocks to that. New St Station, Digbeth, the old Bull Ring were shameful and embarrassing, but Spaghetti Junction is absolutely beautiful. If that's to be the symbol of Brum then bring it on.

Cheers Bileduct, and I totally agree with your sentiments.....everyone should go for an explore under there it's fascinating.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/X1636Y1160S25W700H400.gif
:)

SJ is a beast, i love it.

BTW, thats the river Tame, it travels east under the m6 towards kingsbury the north to Tamworth (it game the town its name) eventually joins the trent.

Great pics there smilesy :cheers:

Bloody brilliant stuff mate! I'd never have thought there was much under there! Is there a beach? Or was that in the past?

How do you get there? Is there anywhere to park nearby, and what roads go there that you can stop on? Might take the missus for a romantic picnic one day. I think SJ's a cracking sight; always gives me goosebumps driving over it.

Excellent pics. I think SJ is up there with likes of the Humber Bridge as one of Britains engineering masterpieces.

I enjoyed those;I don't think I've seen any shots of that lake before.I'll have to do the walk from the centre along the canal (did you drive there Smiley?).It must provide some interesting views.

....

The lake has parking nearby and is just down from stab city. I went there a few years back on a grey drizzly sunday when they were talking about the beach and there were some large 50s housing blocks being demolished. It park looks much better than when I was there last. it looked very mad max down there then.

I agree with it being an engineering masterpiece and we really should make more of it.

I parked on the Armarda Pub car park which is actually on Salford Circus. I parked there coz you can walk straight down the subways and under SJ. Like foxtrot said there's plenty of parking near the lake, there's a load of five a side pitches on the Lichfield road and they've got a huge car park there.

just down from stab city.



:laugh:

That's a sublime set of pictures there Smiley.

Whenever you read something about Brum in the national press it always goes on about how it's trying to lose its association with supposed "national joke" Spaghetti Junction.

Bollocks to that. New St Station, Digbeth, the old Bull Ring were shameful and embarrassing, but Spaghetti Junction is absolutely beautiful. If that's to be the symbol of Brum then bring it on.
Well said. I envy Brum for having Spaghetti Junction. The closest Liverpool has is Switch Island, but that doesn't come close. I didn't know there was that much green space around there: all I see on this section of the M6 is urban sprawl. A relaxing retreat amid fly-over chaos sounds great. :okay:

Cheers for that Pobbie. I think even the Bham forumers were surprised by the amount of greenery and photo oppurtunities there was to be found under there. I didn't explore all of it. The elevated Aston Expressway goes virtually all the way back to Villa Park, which you can walk under....there are some great views there looking back at SJ.

Yey....in its full glory
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%203/PICT0118.jpg

Am I imagining things or has BT had some new extension?I can't remember seeing that central mast before.Any ideas ?

Jeaz I used to live in Gravelly Hill but never thought or considered photographing it. But it's certainly more than a spaggetti junction for CARS on the M8 - it's also a junction of the canals and has the railway line running underneath as well - so a very compact little junction - quite unique I think!

Jeaz - it actually looks quite tranquil in the pics too - shame about the traffic noise

Jeaz I used to live in Gravelly Hill

oh dear

Am I imagining things or has BT had some new extension?I can't remember seeing that central mast before.Any ideas ?

I thnk it's just that crane thing which usually pokes out at an angle, but from this angle it looks vertical.

some fantastic pics there Smiley.. welldone !

Life under SJ, and you captured it so well along with a good narative ! I certainly will try visit Sjpolis, the next time I come to Brum.. :okay:

oh dear

Actually it wasn't that bad - never heard the motorway or even saw it. Would have hated to overlook the junction though!

The thing is, Gravelly Hill's never been that busy when I've been past it on the M6 (and we're talking mostly holiday season here, July/August). The M5/M6 interchange near Sandwell however is truly horrific: from 10 hour-long trips to Cornwall as a five year-old to a TWO HOUR wait to travel the 1 mile needed to get back on the M6 in 2002, this needs some special attention as far as congestion is concerned. What I don't understand is why the M6 Toll road is as long as it is, as most of the M6 near Birmingham seems actually fine. Unless they're just after more of motorists' money.

You'd be surprised Pobbie, we've had traffic jams on the M6 before that stretch from Junction 11 down to J4 and back again in the other direction.....that's roughly the length of the toll road.
I might try and get some pictures of the Ray Hall interchange (M5/M6 interchange) as well coz the majority of that is elevated as well and it's only down the road from me

Well, at least the M6 near Warrington's finally running smoothly again, what with all the roadworks that've been there most of my life. :D

The Thelwall Viaduct is now 4 lanes per direction of motorist utopia. :happy:

The only time I've ever been on the toll road is last December. It was actually about 1-2am in the morning, but the M6 main was closed and so we had no choice but to use it. It's a nice enogh road I have to admit but for someone with a nostalgic feel for our roads I don't like how motorists are being milked by the government.

Great work smiley! You could never guess some of these were from Birmingham, or any city for that matter!

Great pics Smiley - could be in LA......

Dunno how many of you have got 'Google Earth' on your pc......if you haven't get it now. Here's my effort at zooming in on Bham's most recognizable structure

http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/3306/spag4iv.jpg

Birmingham is not fully covered yet but zooming in on other major cities is gobsmacking

I know - I saw it on click online, the gadget show on News 24. Apparently most of the US now has a frontage photo of every single address to add to the map zoom in.

I've got an ICQ friend who lives in (believe it or not) Birmingham Alabama, I was able to tell her the colour of her car by zooming in on her address.....scary and cool at the same time

have they updated brum - ill take a look, half the city was out of focus last time i checked. cool software though.
(makes you wonder what technology the goverment has though, i mean this is free software open to the general public!)

Those are some beautiful pictures mate!

And to think that SJ was designed without compuers too. Its quite a feat of design & engineering IMO. Why should Brum be embarrassed about it?

Paint it white and put uplighters around the columns directly under SJ and make a proper landmark out of it!!

How do I get google earth guys? Is it a software package or a download? Is it expensive? Cheers.

Boards. it's free from earth.google.com

Thanks mate. Free! Yay!

They (GoogleYerArseTitsCuntsAndBollocks) haven't fuckin' well got a version for us fuckin' Macintosh users yet - how predictable. Yet more anti-Mac conspiracy. Fuck 'em! :rant:

They (GoogleYerArseTitsfurryfrontbottomAndBollocks) haven't fuckin' well got a version for us fuckin' Macintosh users yet - how predictable. Yet more anti-Mac conspiracy. Fuck 'em! :rant:

And they havn't got one for Amiga OS4, it's a Micro$haft conspicy!! gits!

Just going through some old threads and found this - some great photos that should be seen again!

Check out Spaghetti Junction on the birds eye feature on http://local.live.com/ - it looks amazing. :happy:

this is officially my favourite thread ever. as a son of the Bromford (used to live in a house directly facing the M6 on Bromford Drive) i used to to wander around Birmingham & Fazeley canal all the time. reading this thread was like remeniscing the good old days lol. we would walk along the M6 all the time. thanks for the pictures Smiley. i see you took some pics from near the Power League complex too

I'm glad this thread has been resurrected so all the new forumers on here can see the photos I took - that's not to big up my photographic skills but show, as so many forumers have already pointed out, that Spaghetti Junction is something this city should be proud of. The one scary thing though is that it was over 16 months ago I took those photos!! I thought I'd taken them sometime in 2006! Yikes! Time's moving fast...I will one day finish my Spaghetti Junction set and walk under the Aston Expressway and get some photos.

They certainly are great photos Smiley of angles most of us will never see (apart from The Concerened Potato of course!).

I could study aerial photos of Spaghetti Junction for a long time looking at its twists and turns. I'd love to view it live from above to watch the cars twisting round each other - preferably not in rush hour though. ;)

I'd like to see a couple more strands added to spaghetti :)

Good news in the Post yesterday - the roadworks around SJ will be completed 2 weeks early and it will be fully open on Monday :cheer:

Some of us seasoned roadwatchers (see the following sites that I also tend to frequent and occasionally contribute to:

http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/

http://www.cbrd.co.uk/

http://euclid.colorado.edu/~rmg/roads/ )

have always maintained that if the A38(M) Aston Expressway feeds into Tyburn Road via the split level slip roads that exit the main alignment, then what is the short 600 yard stub of motorway dual carriageway that continues over the roundabout (and beneath the A38-bound slip) towards Erdington feeding into the A5127 Sutton Coldfield road known as then?

There doesn't seem to be a designation for this very short stretch but a few of us on CBRD have begun to discuss and speculate that it should technically be known as A5127(M) - thus giving Birmingham another additional (albeit very short) motorway number in the city.

It seems logical enough don't you reckon?

Secondly, I don't like the way they have retained the existing lighting scheme throughout the whole of the Gravelly Hill Interchange / Aston Expressway / Elevated M6 system..... they really should have done what cities like Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow have done and replace all these lighting columns (some of which are over 35 years old) with those very tall masts (like at Dartmouth Circus and) - thus there will be fewer structures to maintain along this entire 2-3 mile stretch. It also makes the approach into Birmingham City Centre look more "spectacular" with these super tall beacons with lights on them instead of all these squat little lamp posts littered everywhere.... you get this impression with lots of big cities anyway, and yet in Brum it's conspicuous by its absence.

At present, once you forget about the fact that the A38(M) is quite an impressive way to enter the city from this direction anyway - making Birmingham resemble an American metropolis (seriously!) - the piss poor street lighting configuration (a particular problem throughout the Brum main highway and motorway network) lets it down completely.

Here's a few examples of what I'm going on about as illustrated in the cities of Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester respectively.....

M8

http://www.worldtour-of-scotland.com/preparation/images/m8-glasgow-out.jpg

http://cdn.tripadvisor.com/Images-g186534-d192416-b1391377S-M8_runs_past_hotel_but_no_noise_in_room-Hilton_Glasgow-Glasgow_Scotland.jpg

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~ddm1/roads/Scottish_Roads/Images/lores/516738/cnv00003.jpg


A58(M)/A64(M)

http://www.cbrd.co.uk/histories/lirr/img/04.jpg

http://www.cbrd.co.uk/histories/lirr/img/15.jpg


A57(M) Mancunian Way

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/ewm/001ewm/lg/MancWayHulmeRab4816.jpg

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/ewm/001ewm/lg/ManArdwkMancWayWVw3125.jpg

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/ewm/001ewm/lg/MancWayDuskTrafficVwW2Y28.jpg


plus, some Highways Dept wag decided that motorists should stand on their heads to read this sign as they drive past no doubt (this picture was genuine, not a photoshop job by me either)


http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/ewm/001ewm/lg/MancWaySignUsd4815.jpg

I can find love for tower blocks but motorways and such, no way.

That world tour of Scotland is a load of rubbish, I'm far less likey to vist their crummy website, than if they allowed the Picture

I can find love for tower blocks but motorways and such, no way.

Try driving on motorways - one of my fave past times. :happy:

It's just so graceful, or at least should be, being able to get from one end of the country to the other almost without stopping, feeding onto other motorways without stopping - what could be better?? ;)

^^my sentiments exactly. Fortunately for you, Brum has several direct motorway interchanges on which to cruise. :happy:

I can't say the traffic flows nicely though (from my own experiences).

Driving from the Midlands to Hull was great though - so many different motorway names and A-roads on a long journey, all feeding into one another with little traffic. A road trip at its best!

Nearly twenty years ago (OUCH!) I went om the Circle Line boat trip round Manhattan Island in New York. As we went up the East River, we passed under one of the many bridges to Brooklyn & Queens. One of them had a pretty crazy multiple layered junction at one end. The Tour commentator then said "Back in Birmingham in England they have a junction with so many levels they call it Spaghetti Junction. Well this is the nearest thing New York has to Birmingham's Spaghetti Junction." Needless to say, we all gave a loud cheer.....

Wow what a fascinating thread, thanks for all those photos smiley. Glad somebody resurrected this. Its definately an asset to Birmingham, I can't help but marvel at these huge examples of civil engineering, they make for a really fascinating urban environment. Would love to see them make a proper park out of the area. You could make it into a major exhibition space for outdoor sculpture. At night it could be lit up in a really spectacular fashion, with uplights of graduated colour for the columns, maybe even laterns etc. Seriously cool and unique. Would love to see some proposals for the area. Infact a big biome that would cut out some of the noise, surrounded by a landscaped park and marina.

Somebody should post this lot again on the world urban transport forum, might get some enthusiastic comments. :)

Some of us seasoned roadwatchers (see the following sites that I also tend to frequent and occasionally contribute to:

http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/

http://www.cbrd.co.uk/

http://euclid.colorado.edu/~rmg/roads/ )

Secondly, I don't like the way they have retained the existing lighting scheme throughout the whole of the Gravelly Hill Interchange / Aston Expressway / Elevated M6 system..... they really should have done what cities like Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow have done and replace all these lighting columns (some of which are over 35 years old) with those very tall masts (like at Dartmouth Circus and) - thus there will be fewer structures to maintain along this entire 2-3 mile stretch. It also makes the approach into Birmingham City Centre look more "spectacular" with these super tall beacons with lights on them instead of all these squat little lamp posts littered everywhere.... you get this impression with lots of big cities anyway, and yet in Brum it's conspicuous by its absence.

All the lighting columns have been replaced in the last 10 years on all the slip roads. The M6 viaduct motorway lighting was replaced at about the same time.
All the lighting within the 'Birmingham Box' M5/M6/M42, apart from the odd stretch here and there, is now SON lighting. The last major stretch to be upgraded from 180w SOX to SON was the M5 between J2 and J3 in about 2001.
In fact (and this is REALLY anoraky), the only original bit of 1971 lighting left, and has somehow been overlooked by the Highways Agency, is the Southbound exit sliproad at J1 M5 at West Bromwich. They still work, the lamps are still replaced I assume, but they definately are antiques in terms of motorway lighting.

Try driving on motorways - one of my fave past times. :happy:

It's just so graceful, or at least should be, being able to get from one end of the country to the other almost without stopping, feeding onto other motorways without stopping - what could be better?? ;)

Its always best between 3 - 5am. Completly empty, No rozza's around. Just hundreds of miles of relaxation, with radio 5live on.

I just love the engineering angle of it all when it comes to all the motorway network around Brum as well as SJ - think about it; the M6 is elevated from Walsall to Castle Brom with a little bit on-surface at Great Barr, and the M5 is on stilts from West Brom to almost Quinton - terrific!! And probably unrivalled in the UK in terms of elevated mileage.

^^ Yep, I'd heard that the Castle Brom stretch was the longest unbroken elevated section of motorway in the UK. But you know how true 'facts' often are!

^^ Yep, I'd heard that the Castle Brom stretch was the longest unbroken elevated section of motorway in the UK. But you know how true 'facts' often are!

The thing that always puzzled me, is why they stuck it on stilts. SJ I can understand, but the rest of it.......

The thing that always puzzled me, is why they stuck it on stilts. SJ I can understand, but the rest of it.......


Here....

this page will explain the reason why they decided to go for the elevated option.

http://www.iht.org/motorway/m5m6midlink.htm

Just one section of a fantastic and thoroughly informative site on the whole of the UK motorway network for all those m-way-spotting saddoes like myself.

All the lighting columns have been replaced in the last 10 years on all the slip roads. The M6 viaduct motorway lighting was replaced at about the same time.

All the lighting within the 'Birmingham Box' M5/M6/M42, apart from the odd stretch here and there, is now SON lighting. The last major stretch to be upgraded from 180w SOX to SON was the M5 between J2 and J3 in about 2001.

In fact (and this is REALLY anoraky), the only original bit of 1971 lighting left, and has somehow been overlooked by the Highways Agency, is the Southbound exit sliproad at J1 M5 at West Bromwich. They still work, the lamps are still replaced I assume, but they definately are antiques in terms of motorway lighting.



I've seen the new lights on the stretches of the M6 and A38(M) having been through there a couple of years back but it's just the tops of the columns and the lights themselves that have been replaced over the years: the columns being exactly the same as before - the same short ones. Of course, the most recent changes have been the replacement of the longer arms attached to the older sodium (yellow orange) lights along the length of the Aston Expressway (the "dancing" lamp posts) with those pathetic new style of light fittings that are just fixed against the column without the need for an arm at all.

The problem is, I'd rather all of the entire stretch of lighting along the Midland Links motorways was replaced with either the tall 80-100' high mast fixtures (therefore necessitating far fewer columns in the first place as the illumination cast by these extend for a greater area) or newer columns that are much taller - like many of those on other motorways such as the M1, M62 and around Manchester or the Lancashire stretch of the M6 (going towards Preston and also around Warrington). They even overlooked this when they built the M6 Toll for fucks sakes - preferring to use the standard height (rather than taller) columns with those same light fittings fixed onto the columns without arms - when some stretches of the M6 Toll / M42 multiplex have up to 12 lanes of traffic and would therefore be perfectly suited to extra tall [or high mast] lighting columns in these places.

If you drive down the M5 towards Worcestershire and Gloucester, notice how the lighting columns change after Junction 4 to much taller ones which then extend practically all the way down to Strensham (M50). The "dwarf" columns from J1 to J4 are basically an unchanged relic from the "Midland Links" stretches as originally built. The only change on them are the actual lights themselves.

Here....

this page will explain the reason why they decided to go for the elevated option.

:okay: Thanks Martin!

Remember this thread? It's so old that Martin G was one of the last posters on here! Anyway, I was in the area a few days back so I thought I'd belatedly, keep my promise and take some photos under the Aston Expressway.

I took a few more around Salford Circus first and while the graffiti's to be expected (it adds to the griitiness (spelling?) of the place) I was a bit disgusted by the state of the public rights of way: litter strewn and god knows what left lying about as can be seen in these two subway shots:
http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune20107.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201019.jpg

The approach to SJ from the Tyburn Road
http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune20102.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune20104.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune20105.jpg

within Salford Circus:
http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201015.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201013.jpg

The cyclist gives an idea to how high the central flyover is
http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune20109.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune20108.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201010.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201017.jpg

A few shots at canal level:

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201022.jpg

Quite a lot of uninspiring graffiti under here.
http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201020.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201021.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201026.jpg

Obviously, a lot of ongoing restoration work too
http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201027.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201028.jpg

The canal water was a bit icky too
http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201031.jpg

A lot more pleasant
http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201032.jpg

:nuts:
http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201033.jpg

Various shots from under the Aston Expressway;

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201050.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201051.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201052.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201055.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201056.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201058.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201061.jpg

tried to get perfect symmetry.....
http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201062.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201063.jpg

Spaghetti Junction isn't just where the M6, Aston Expressway and various other A-roads converge on each other it's a veritable smorgasbord of old and new transport intwined within one another with footpaths, canals, rivers and rail tracks all catered for. Everyone likes their city to look nice and gleaming but you do need these parts too to make it real and it is worth a quick gander

The cross city trains go under SJ and I did try to catch one (not literally) but this was my best effort.
http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201066.jpg

The river Tame, I think?
http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201071.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201072.jpg

and the pool in Salford Park
http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201075.jpg

http://gi347.photobucket.com/groups/p467/PBQUT2GENU/Birmingham23rdJune201080.jpg

Oooh! This thread certainly is a blast from the past! Great shots!

I've always wanted to go on a photo spree round here but I can never pluck up the courage to get off the bus before it hits the Expressway. :(

^^ its not that bad silly.

fantastic photos smiley - its an extraordinary place and a graffiti haven.

Brilliant pictures.

Cycled to work this morning ( Erdington - Blackheath 13.66 miles) had to go under SJ and had a good nose, some really interesting bits and pieces, for me it's the waterways. Especially Tame and the pillar in the middle of the canal.

I've had a wander round there once. Fascinating engineering achievement. It's quite a cool walk to walk to the junction from the city centre and then back again. Did it once and was an interesting walk and lots of history and contrasting canalside areas.

Another interesting walk is by up by Smethwick upto Tipton. Did that walk once and that's fascinating especially in similar way with the M5 crossing the canal and pillars in the canal.

Great photos. It really is in a bit of a disgraceful state, but what would you do? Even if you spent a shedload of money on either cleaning / painting / re-paving and refurbing the subways, or even more money on filling the subways in, and coming up with pedestrian crossings & footbridges to replace the subways, there's no guarantee that people would use it, and it wouldn't become a litter strewn dump again in a few years.

As we all know. There's no money at the moment!

For a pedestrian, the whole area from Gravelly Hill & down to Aston Station is a pretty horrid, noisy, dirty and unsafe feeling walk.

Great shots of the Spaghetti slum!

Fantastic shots!

Art installation - TRACKS
Saturday 31 March and Sunday 1 April, 11am–5pm
(individual slots: allow at least 20mins)

This moveable participatory installation throws landscape through 90° and sets it in motion. Face-up and camera-style, participants are moved by their individual ‘grip’ on a slow, smooth journey along a 100 metre length of dolly track and invited to gaze upwards. They undergo a solitary, immersive experience as the landscape is transformed around them. Track takes place in the dramatic underbelly of the city’s Gravelly Hill Interchange. Opened in 1972 and known popularly as Spaghetti Junction, the structure plaits together five different levels of road on 559 columns up to 80 feet high and has become intrinsically associated with Birmingham. Track reveals a bewildering visual and sonic perspective from the landscape below where a ground-level system of local roads, railways, canals, rivers and pipelines make their own intersections.

http://www.wearefierce.org/fierce-festival/whats-on/track

http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2012/03/01/a-different-view-of-spaghetti-junction-during-birmingham-fierce-festival-65233-30433299/

Great to see this old thread revitalised for a short while. I'd saved a couple of relevant images during its absence so time to share them on here.

Here's Spaghetti Junction during its birth. I can't even imagine the complexities that went into the construction!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%209/BirminghamJan5th200864.jpg

Epic aerial view
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%209/SpaghettiJunction.jpg

Great to see this old thread revitalised for a short while. I'd saved a couple of relevant images during its absence so time to share them on here.

Here's Spaghetti Junction during its birth. I can't even imagine the complexities that went into the construction!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v173/Robdann/Birmingham%209/BirminghamJan5th200864.jpg
[/IMG]

This is amazing!

What's that building top right?

^^Copeley Hill Hostel

My mum used to live there before spag junction was built on top. I'll ask her to see if she's got any old black and white photos.

PNfB0cfBMrE

If it was built to exactly the same specification today it would cost £120,312,000.00.

Originally it cost £10.2m

^^Copeley Hill Hostel

My mum used to live there before spag junction was built on top. I'll ask her to see if she's got any old black and white photos.

Judging by its position on that photo I'm guessing it didn't last much longer.

^^ And probably would have taken twice as long

Judging by its position on that photo I'm guessing it didn't last much longer.

I don't think it had been pushing much more than 20 years old at this point either.

Before it was a large house called Burlington House which seems to have been there since the late 1800s.

I use spaghetti junction every day and think it's an amazing piece of engineering. The view into the city centre as you come off the M6 is fantastic. Not many cities allow you to get right into the city centre without hitting a single traffic junction.

I use spaghetti junction every day and think it's an amazing piece of engineering. The view into the city centre as you come off the M6 is fantastic. Not many cities allow you to get right into the city centre without hitting a single traffic junction.
^^
Got to agree you could be forgiven for thinking you're entering a big city on the east coast of the US of A when you hit the Expressway from the M6 :banana:

A different perspective available here (http://www.wearefierce.org/fierce-festival/whats-on/track)

A different perspective available here (http://www.wearefierce.org/fierce-festival/whats-on/track)

Random.

aside that photo on the link...

why do 'artists' feel the need to spout such shite from their mouths when trying to describe what is simply-Lying down on a carriage rolling down train tracks.

aside that photo on the link...

why do 'artists' feel the need to spout such shite from their mouths when trying to describe what is simply-Lying down on a carriage rolling down train tracks.

+1

It's not art.

A bit like this daft helicopter opera.

Happy Birthday :)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-18094742
http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2012/05/16/forty-years-of-spaghetti-junction-marked-65233-30985536/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/24/spaghetti-junction-unravelling-britain-modernity?newsfeed=true

One from Daily Mail too!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2149198/Spaghetti-Junction-turns-40-The-hidden-beauty-Britains-craziest-motorway-flyover.html

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/05/24/article-2149198-131D4FBD000005DC-390_964x723.jpg

One from Daily Mail too!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2149198/Spaghetti-Junction-turns-40-The-hidden-beauty-Britains-craziest-motorway-flyover.html

:nuts:

It annoys me when they keep calling it a "complicated" junction and ask people if they managed to navigate it as it's really simple when you actually use it. Sure, it looks mighty complicated from the air but in reality you only use one slip road for wherever you're going at that time and when travelling through it on the M6 you barely even know you're in/on Spagetti Junction it's that straight!

I never get the complicated tag either, junction 7 however I'd imagine is a nightmare if you're not familiar with it.

Junction 7 is terrible

Junction 7 where the slip roads are on the inside of the junction :nuts:

A fact about Spaghetti is that it was designed with to operate if we changed to driving on the right. :yes:

I agree Junction 7 and the M6 Toll Junctions if you haven't used them before are slightly alarming.

Check these out :) http://www.flickr.com/photos/crpr/7195147726/in/photostream

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5240/7195147726_cc9bd90295_c.jpg

Check this out:
http://goo.gl/maps/RIwR1
Its a pretty nice trumpet, albeit slightly distorted.
There is also a flyover from the local road to one of the highways.
and if you wondering if it missing connections, this is just east of it:
http://goo.gl/maps/FRqLI

Junction 7 where the slip roads are on the inside of the junction :nuts:

A fact about Spaghetti is that it was designed with to operate if we changed to driving on the right. :yes:

Junction 7 is the most cuntish junction I know in the UK. Some bits of the A38 are bad though it must be said. Junction 7 is just unbelieavably dangerous!

J7 is great.... once you know how it all works, first time going on it though is a complete nightmare

I think its seeing an upgrade as part of the M6 managed motorways scheme though?

I agree J7 is great. Its a 3 level stacked junction allowing continuous junction-less travel in both North-South (A38) and East-West (M6) directions significantly reducing traffic on the circulatory roundabout improving capacity/journey times and all within in quite a small footprint - compare this with a cloverleaf style junction (like in Redditch) which takes up so much more land for relatively little additional benefits . The North facing slip roads are on the inside the circumference of circulatory and i don't think i have seen this in many other place and again this helps reduce the land take.

Spaghetti is ok but i like J7 more

Oh fook! - Yeh I remember being confronted with Spaghetti Junction after a heavy night of study and ready to hand some work in before a deadline, I'd intended to take the M6 to get to Coventry.. only to find myself driving up Gravelly Hill... totally lost, I had to make my way down the Aston Distressway and find a roundabout junction to turn back on so I could get on the right road... christ knows how I managed that one but with three roads sequentially splitting of in different directions in quick succession, it can catch you out if you're not paying attention.... :lol:

Can't see how you can get lost coming off M6 though... I always say just take the first left off Spaghetti Junction and you head straight into town.. The only difficult bit (if at all) is to describe is how to get off the A38 before they hit the second tunnel.

I like how everybody just ignored me.

Oh fook! - Yeh I remember being confronted with Spaghetti Junction after a heavy night of study and ready to hand some work in before a deadline, I'd intended to take the M6 to get to Coventry.. only to find myself driving up Gravelly Hill... totally lost, I had to make my way down the Aston Distressway and find a roundabout junction to turn back on so I could get on the right road... christ knows how I managed that one but with three roads sequentially splitting of in different directions in quick succession, it can catch you out if you're not paying attention.... :lol:

Can't see how you can get lost coming off M6 though... I always say just take the first left off Spaghetti Junction and you head straight into town.. The only difficult bit (if at all) is to describe is how to get off the A38 before they hit the second tunnel.

I think Spaghetti Junction is one of the most easiest, straightforward junctions, as long as you follow the signs your all good no stopping at roundabouts or anything, just fly through!

Spaghetti is a really simple junction to navigate, it's just tempting to look left or right and get confused by what else is going on; once you're on those bits you realise they're simple too. There's a lot going on but you're only ever on one bit of it, and regardless of how many branches there are, you always only have either one of two paths to choose, both signposted.

The only 'confusing' part is the entrance from the A38(M) where you can either take the M6 (North and South) A5127 or A38..

Its a masterpiece of engineering!

The only 'confusing' part is the entrance from the A38(M) where you can either take the M6 (North and South) A5127 or A38..

Its a masterpiece of engineering!

And that's the bit that got me lol!!! The rest is a synch.

Hehe, well, that's always been simple for me, just always keep left :)

to be fair most people using Spaghetti now either know it or have a satnav I don't see how you could get lost lol

to be fair most people using Spaghetti now either know it or have a satnav I don't see how you could get lost lol

I had a '97 Jag XJ with a cassette deck... you think I was bothered with a satnav?? :lol::lol::lol:

I love how airy it feels on the stilts as you exit southbound and turn onto the Expressway.
I'm currently in LA and even though their intersections are just as intricate with all the stanchions and flyovers, there isn't one that includes featuring a railway line, canal and river underneath too!