M6 - A34 (original) (raw)
Name
Great Barr Interchange
Where is it?
M6 junction 7, the place where the busy M6 through the West Midlands conurbation meets the busy A34, the main road from Birmingham to Walsall (and back).
What's wrong with it?
It's a perfectly nice high-capacity three-level stacked roundabout interchange, as you can see. Trouble is, some fool connected the sliproads to and from the M6 to the west to the inside of the roundabout instead of the outside. Oops! Confusing and disorienting to say the least. It also means all the traffic from the M6 joins the roundabout on the same side, and traffic from the M6 eastbound passes an entry point to go back where it just came from before it can even leave the roundabout. Plus, it looks daft.
Why is it wrong?
The most likely reason is the proximity of junction 8 — the M5 interchange — which lies about half a mile further west. The lack of room between the M5 and A34 probably meant that even shifting the west-facing sliproads at this junction further east by just a few hundred yards like this would make a big impact on weaving traffic.
What would be better?
Shifting the west-side sliproads back to the outside of the roundabout is the obvious answer, but can't be done because of how close junction 8 is. Tricky. Having all the M6 sliproads further east and looping back to the roundabout would leave the same problem of everything joining together. Maybe we'll just have to leave it!