10 ways councils are making budgets go further
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Highways: Salt with spaghetti proves to be an unappetising mix
Part of Birmingham’s iconic ‘spaghetti junction’ is undergoing work, after road salt rotted some of the structure’s concrete.
The ‘underbelly’ of the section linking the M6 northbound to the A38 Aston Expressway was being eaten away by road salt deposited by winter service vehicles.
Highways Agency engineers checked the joints regularly on ‘cherry-pickers’ before installing structures while the damaged concrete is replaced.
The HA said it had undertaken similar repairs on other parts of the junction in the past. ‘The scale of the works we are installing reflect the size and complexity of this important strategic interchange,’ added the spokeswoman.
Neil Dancer, head of highways at Birmingham City Council, said: ‘We are working with the HA on this to ensure traffic is kept moving. We are actually looking to do this work ourselves on the Aston Expressway (A38M).’
