Spaghetti Junction at 50: how the fabled Midlands interchange put Birmingham on the map

By Michael Dring, Senior Lecturer in Architecture, Birmingham City University

For half a century, Gravelly Hill Interchange – affectionately known as Spaghetti Junction – has divided opinion. Opening to much acclaim on May 24 1972, it was the final piece in a major infrastructure project designed to connect several major routes (the M1, M5 and M6) at the heart of England’s new motorway system.

Significantly, the complex, layered concrete and steel structure – whose principal engineer was the London-born architect

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