Highways Agency - Safe roads, Reliable journeys, Informed travellers

The Project

This scheme was one of a number of measures recommended by the London to the South West and South Wales Multi-Modal Study (SWARMMS) to relieve congestion on the M4/M5 around Bristol and was added to the Targeted Programme of Improvements (now known as the Programme of Major Schemes) by the Secretary of State for Transport in December 2002.

Before this improvement, the steep uphill gradient on the northbound carriageway suffered congestion because of slow vehicles travelling up the hill, especially during peak hours and holiday weekends. To tackle this congestion the scheme provides, within the highway boundary, a new climbling lane on the incline. The total length of the scheme is approximately 1.3 miles/2.1 kilometres.

The Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) contract was awarded to Birse Civils Ltd on 6 April 2004. The Environmental Statement for the scheme was published on 7 October 2004 and a summary of this document (Non-Technical Summary) can be found via the Publications link opposite.

Following the Secretary of State's decision on 30 March 2005, work started on site on 25 April 2005. The scheme was opened to traffic on time on 17 October 2005 and within budget. The remaining remedial works were completed on 7 January 2006.

One Year After study

This scheme has been reviewed as part of our ongoing programme of Post Opening Project Evaluation (POPE).  The study compares  the outturn effects of this scheme and the other climbing lanes on this section of the M5, to the predicted impacts of the schemes.  A summary of the  one year after report is available to download here: M5 Climbing Lanes OYA summary (PDF 52KB).

A full version of the report is available to download here: M5 Climbing Lanes OYA - Full Report (PDF 3.89MB)