Birmingham tunnels closed for six weeks

The tunnels in Birmingham city centre have been closed for six weeks while essential highway maintenance work is carried out.

The St Chad’s and Queensway tunnels will be completely closed to traffic until Monday 2 September, in order for Birmingham City Council to carry out essential work. The closure will then be preceded by four weeks of overnight closures from 10pm to 6am, and followed by up to two weeks of similar overnight closures.

Contractor Amey is carrying out the works, which are expected to cause traffic chaos in the city.

Highways network manager for Amey, Eddie Fellows, told ITV: "We'll be doing some structural repairs and some structural maintenance, essentially to infill the central wall through the tunnel so the northbound and southbound carriage ways are completely separate, and those will be linked only by emergency doors.

"We'll also be putting brand new lighting in the tunnels and we will be coating all the walls and the surfaces in the tunnels with a fire protection and that will all then be painted."

The Highways Agency is urging motorists to plan their journeys while the six-week closure of the A38 Birmingham tunnels is in place.

Frank Bird from the Highways Agency said: “We urge all motorists travelling into Birmingham City Centre between July and September 2013 to check local conditions and allow extra time for their journeys.”