A MOTORWAY is to close at night as work continues to upgrade it, causing disruption for drivers near Birmingham Airport.

The M42 is to close at night for upgrade work to reduce long-term congestion - and delays are expected as gantries are installed. 

The work on the M42 will take place on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and drivers heading north from Worcester and Droitwich are likely to face delays and disruption.

Work on our M42 junction 6 upgrade is continuing next week. National Highways is also working on phase 3 of work on the Catherine de Barnes Lane which involves realigning the road to a new bridge, south of Shadowbrook Lane.

Alongside this, they will also be installing overhead gantries on the M42.

To allow this work to be carried out safely, overnight closures will be in place from 10pm to 5am on the following dates:

Monday

On Monday the M42 will be closed southbound between junctions 6 and 5.

Lanes two and three will also be closed northbound between junctions 5 and 6.

The diversion will be: exit at M42 J6, A45 west, Damson Parkway, A41 south to re-join the M42 southbound at J5

Tuesday 

On Tuesday the M42 will be closed southbound between junctions 6 and 5.

Lanes two and three will also be closed northbound between junctions 5 and 6.

The diversion will be: exit at M42 J6, A45 west, Damson Parkway, A41 south to re-join the M42 southbound at J5

Wednesday

The M42 will be closed southbound between junction 6 and 5. The diversion involes a southbound exit at M42 J6, A45 west, Damson Parkway, A41 south to re-join the M42 southbound at J5.

Thursday

The M42 will be closed in both directions between J5-J6. Southbound diversion: exit at M42 J6, A45 west, Damson Parkway, A41 south to re-join the M42 southbound at J5.

Northbound diversion: exit at M42 J5, A41 north to Damson Parkway, A45 east to re-join the M42 northbound at J6

A spokesperson for National Highways said: "Clearly signed diversion routes will be in place when the roads are closed. We apologise in advance for any disruption you may experience and we’ll make every effort to ensure the impact on the local community and motorists is kept to a minimum.

"We always aim to work to the programme, however these closures may be amended due to poor weather or operational reasons."

The work is being carried out because National Highways say the junction does not have sufficient capacity to accommodate forecast traffic growth beyond 2019, even without the new HS2 station.