Week of overnight closures on M42 to begin tomorrow as part of work to improve junction

National Highways has said the closure of the M42 in both directions between junctions 5 and 6 is so work on overhead gantries can be done 'safely'.

Starting on Monday, the motorway will be shut between from 9pm to 5am, and a 'clearly signed' diversion route will be in place.

The agency also warned motorists that the work 'may' cause slight delays and if you're travelling along the M42 to 'please plan' ahead and allow additional time for any journey being undertook.

A spokesperson for National Highways, said: "Traffic Safety Control officers (TSCO) will work 24/7 to deal with any incidents as quickly as possible. We also provide a free recovery service for vehicles that break down within our works.

"Please remember that closures can change at short notice. You can check the latest information on our daily closures page or find live travel information on our Traffic England site. Our travel alerts give details of live incidents on our network.

"We apologise in advance for any inconvenience during these works. We're making every effort to keep noise down and minimise disruption."

The work is to help reduce "congestion and poor journey reliability" which have "constrained investment and economic growth around the M42 at junction 6".

"Having almost reached capacity, the junction has become a bottleneck, causing delays across the network," the agency explained.

"We know the junction doesn’t have sufficient capacity to accommodate forecast traffic growth beyond 2019, even without the new HS2 station, so we’re building:

• a new 2.4km dual carriageway link road, aligned to the west of Bickenhill

• a new junction (5a) on the M42 motorway, approximately 1.8km south of the existing M42 Junction 6 (Solihull)

• two new roundabouts north of the B4102 Solihull Road on either side of the M42 motorway

• a new overbridge above the A45 near to the Arden Hotel, providing cyclists and walkers with a safer route to cross the A45