M42 Traffic News

The M42 is 40 miles long. It leaves the M5 near Bromsgrove, runs round the south and east of Birmingham past Redditch, Solihull, the NEC and Birmingham Airport, crosses the M6 and the M6 Toll near Coleshill, and ends beyond Tamworth at Appleby Magna, where it carries straight on as the A42 to the M1.

Below is the latest M42 news we are aware of, taken from National Highways and refreshed through the day. Each item names the junctions and the direction it affects.

What this site covers

M42 Traffic is written for people who drive the M42, not for people who read about it. The news block above is a short teaser; the full list, with filters for incidents, roadworks and closures, is on the latest M42 traffic news page. If a list is empty, that means nothing has been reported that we are aware of — it is not a promise about the road.

The M42 is a short road with a lot of interchanges: it links the M5, the M40, the M6 and the M6 Toll, and hands over to the A42 for the M1. For that reason every page on this site says what each junction connects to, and where you go next.

Pick your direction

News and traffic on a motorway are rarely the same both ways. Use M42 northbound if you are heading towards Solihull, the NEC, the M6 and Tamworth, and M42 southbound if you are heading towards the M40, Redditch, Bromsgrove and the M5. National Highways uses northbound and southbound for the M42, even though on a map it runs from south-west to north-east.

How busy is the M42?

According to the Department for Transport road traffic statistics, 2025, the busiest counted stretch of the M42 is between Junction 4 (Shirley) and Junction 5 (Solihull), at 136,724 vehicles a day in both directions together. Across the twelve main-line stretches between the M5 and Junction 11, the average is about 109,000 vehicles a day. The quietest main-line stretch is the last one, Junction 10 to Junction 11 beyond Tamworth, at 67,744.

The full junction-by-junction table is on how busy is the M42, and the lorry figures are on M42 lorry and freight traffic.

Where Active Traffic Management began

The stretch between Junction 3A and Junction 7 was where Active Traffic Management was piloted in 2006, with mandatory variable speed limits, hard shoulder running and new information signs. The system was later extended north to Junction 9 and on to the M6 and the M40. You can see what the gantries are showing on our M42 overhead signs page and any variable limits on M42 speed limits now.

Services

There are only three places to stop: Hopwood Park at Junction 2, Tamworth at Junction 10, and Appleby Magna at Junction 11. Between Hopwood Park and Tamworth there is a gap of roughly 26 miles with no services at all.

Traffic count figures on this page are from the Department for Transport road traffic statistics, 2025.