The northern end of the M42 runs from the M6 Toll links past Tamworth (Junction 10, the A5) to Appleby Magna (Junction 11, the A444), where the motorway ends and the road continues as the A42 towards East Midlands Airport and the M1.

What the junctions connect to

• Junction 10 — the A5 for Tamworth and Nuneaton, with Lichfield (A38) also signed southbound. Tamworth services is here.
• Junction 11 — the A444 for Burton upon Trent and Measham northbound, and, southbound, Nuneaton and non-motorway traffic. Appleby Magna is here.

Between them the road crosses from Warwickshire into Leicestershire.

How busy is this stretch?

M42 Junctions 10 and 11 (Tamworth and the A42): vehicles a day, stretch by stretch

Stretch	Vehicles per day	Northbound	Southbound	Lorries
J9 to J10	79,468	41,519	37,948	11,558
J10 to J11	67,744	34,111	33,633	10,831
J11 onto the A42	47,583	–	–	6,624

© M42Traffic.co.uk · Statistics from the Department for Transport

J10 to J11 is counted at two points either side of a local authority boundary; we show the busier. The other recorded 66,124. The last row is a DfT estimate for the short link from the A444 onto the A42.

A different kind of traffic

This is the quietest main-line part of the M42, but it has the heaviest mix of goods vehicles. Between Junction 10 and Junction 11, lorries are 16.0% of traffic and vans 23.7% — so nearly two vehicles in five are carrying goods. Northbound is slightly busier than southbound on both stretches.

History

Coleshill to Polesworth opened on 18 December 1985, at a cost of £40 million. The Polesworth North and South sections, 8 miles in all, opened on 7 August 1986. The A42 beyond Junction 11, including the Measham and Ashby-de-la-Zouch bypass, was completed in August 1989.

Carrying on up the A42

North of Junction 11 the A42 has junctions for Snarestone and Measham (J12, B4116), Ashby, Coalville and Leicester (J13, A511), and Castle Donington (J14, A453), before merging with the M1 at Junction 23A. For the A42 itself, use Traffic News England; for the M1, see M1 Traffic. Heading south on the M42: Junctions 7–9.

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