National Highways continues M5 safety investment with barrier renewal scheme
National Highways is continuing its investment in the South West M5 with a scheme to renew one and a half miles of safety barrier in Somerset.
The wire rope central reservation barrier along a section of the motorway between Burnham-on-Sea and Bridgwater has reached its end of life and will be replaced with new steel beam barriers through the autumn and winter.
The £1.1 million barrier renewal scheme follows the start of a £5.9m drainage scheme to alleviate a flooding hot spot near junction 26 and a £5m southbound resurfacing and technology scheme between Cullompton and Exeter.
A further £2m of southbound resurfacing is planned later this year in Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire – an overall £14 million investment which will create safer and smoother journeys for the thousands of motorists using the South West M5 daily.
Drainage repairs will also be carried out during the barrier renewal scheme, with work starting on Sunday, 2 November with a full northbound overnight closure (8pm-6am) between junctions 24 and 22, followed by further weeknight northbound and southbound closures on the 4th, 5th and 6th November and a Sunday overnight southbound closure on the 9th November.
The overnight closures have been planned to avoid the nights of the Burnham and Weston-super-Mare carnivals, and during the night closures, traffic will be diverted via the A38 to rejoin the M5 both northbound and southbound.
National Highways Route Manager Jonathan Hill said: “We appreciate road users will be seeing a lot of roadworks through the autumn and winter but our current work along the M5 represents a significant investment.
“This investment will ultimately bring benefits in terms of safety and wet weather resilience, smoother journeys for motorists and reduce the requirement for unplanned closures.
“We’re undertaking the work at this time of year and overnight, when traffic volumes are at their lowest, we’ve worked closely with partners to minimise disruption – carefully avoiding dates in Somerset’s carnival calendar – and we thank people for their patience while we carry out this essential work.”
The barrier renewal and drainage scheme is scheduled to complete on 19 December, before the Christmas holidays, and during the work, two lanes will be running in both directions.
Full information, including all overnight and lane closures, and further details of maintenance schemes in the South West can be found on the National Highways web page.
And during the work, drivers can obtain up-to-the-minute travel information on local radio, the @HighwaysSWEST Twitter feed, by phoning the National Highways Information Line on 0300 123 5000 or by accessing the Traffic England website.
Notes to Editors
National Highways is the wholly government-owned company responsible for modernising, maintaining and operating England’s motorways and major A roads.
Real-time traffic information for England’s motorways and major A roads is available via the Traffic England website, local and national radio travel bulletins, electronic road signs and mobile apps. Local Twitter services are also available.
For further information please contact National Highways' press office (24hrs) on 0844 693 1448 and select the most appropriate option:
Option 1: National enquiries (9am to 5.30pm) and out of hours for urgent enquiriesOption 2: North West (9am to 5.30pm)Option 3: Yorkshire and North East (9am to 5.30pm)Option 4: West Midlands (9am to 5.30pm)Option 5: East Midlands (9am to 5.30pm)Option 6: East (9am to 5.30pm)Option 7: South East (9am to 5.30pm)Option 8: South West (9am to 5.30pm)
