I never thought I'd be quite so invested in a series about our Motorways.

As a local I have to say you missed my favourite bit Halfway between J2/3 there is a little tunnel through which runs the Roman built Icknield Street I was told that it couldn't be blocked off when they built the M42 because it is protected by a law enacted by Edward the Confessor

Have you ever considered following the old route of the A1 to show just how 'off course' it has become for speed and convenience compared to when it was a coach and horses route just over 100 years ago?

Back in the late 80's and early 90's I must have used Junction 6 hundreds of times. It never once occurred to me that the roundabout went over the A45 on one side of the junction and under it on the other, not to mention that this is the only motorway junction in England where this happens. Jon, your level of nerdism for these things astounds me, and I love it! 😊

The quarry you refer to is the restored Shepley Quarry operated by RMC until its takeover by CEMEX in 2005, although the site continued as a quarry and landfill until 2008/9. The ruined building is either the maintenance shed or weighbridge office. Access is gained from Brookhouse Road and last time I went that way, some years ago now, the RMC entrance sign was still there, disappearing into the undergrowth. The motorway separated the quarry from the access and office/weighbridge, so the tunnel was built as an accommodation tunnel to allow the quarry to continue to operate. It was a pretty tight fit for our dumpers and excavators as I recall.

10/10 for the use of the Poddington Peas theme

Done a bit of research on the interwebs and found that the area at 1:38. South of the motorway the area was called the Shepley Quarry Landfill. Cemex U K Materials Limited had a licence from 1990 to 2019. North of the motorway It was know as Shepley Sand Pit and used by Bromsgrove District Council as a tip and landfill site from 1971 to 1975.

I’ve always thought the m42 was the motorway that you queued all the way through on the way to another motorway with many more queues… great stuff!

I feel you could have mentioned the NEC, National Exhibition Centre just off the M42, which was originally planned for Leicestershire , but a council refused it, as it was thought, exhibitors would not want to leave London

Hi John. You're my favourite man who stands on infrastructure verges and underpasses. Keep it up.

Some More Secrets. 1 The bridge you showed at junction 4. was rolled in overnight. The motorway was only closed for a few hours. 2 Why they had a spare road number for the A42. The A42 ran between Reading and Birmingham. The section north of Oxford beacon the A34 whilst thew section south of Oxford was also renumbered. 3 Following the signs for Redditch involve some very long detours. The distance from M5 Junction 5, Along the A38 and A448 Dual Carriage way, is around 10 miles. Following the sign posts along the M5, M42, A435 and A4023. is a around twice the distance. Junction 2 of the M42 is about 4 miles from the centre of Redditch opposed to about 10 from the above route. From the North going at M5 junction 4 is a similar detour. I live just over a mile away from the quarry near junction one. I'm sure your correct about the close date. I don't know anything about it. though. There are a lot of sandpits in the area, I guess this was another one. This was a film of people objecting to the M42 being built from 1974 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pZehYKl1tJaaqX0.html

Subsidence is why the M42 becomes the A42, because of the colliery workings you mentioned, the constructors could not guarantee the motorway would not deform more than it should, so they called it an A road, which allows for more deformity, hence it's a bit rollercoaster-ish in places. brilliant videos, 👍

I’m a nerd about old roads, alignments and stuff as well. I’ve loved this series.

Another very interesting and entertaining video

Red Dwarf & The Poddington Peas? Loving your choice of 90s TV themes.

You won’t find anything Highways England (or whatever they’re called these days) at Catshill because their West Midlands and National Control Rooms are (or were) based just up the M5 at Quinton. As for ‘tearing up the countryside’ I blame my 4x Great Grandfather who was a Wheelwright at Whitacre near Kingsbury but his son became a Platelayer building the first railway line there, this bringing trains into the family bloodstream right through to myself.

The golden tower is thought-provoking. It provokes the thought, "What's the point in that being there?"

Catshill interchange - one of the locations made famous by Sally Traffic on Radio 2 afternoon traffic reports of things not moving anywhere

Oh so that’s what that golden shaft is! I was expecting golden balls 🤣

This is my favorite series

In the early days when the M42 ended in a field outside Coleshill, you could enter and leave by those two little slip roads now reserved for emergency services. Coming from Colehill you turned right across the dual carriage way and then left onto the slip road. They would never be allowed for you and me once the motorway was opened as there was a limited length for merging/slowing before the turn.

The M42 and the crazy direction sign, to turn left take the right lane and to turn right take the left lane. The junction works well but the signs approaching it are amazingly confusing to look at.

Brilliant video. The most topically diverse ten minutes on KZfaq, yet still somehow anchored to the M42, a weird road that manages to run in all four compass directions.

Both Danger Mouse last week and Animal Hospital this week have sent me on nostaliga trips, an extra bonus on top of all this lovely nerdy info. Keep it up, smashing it boyos

the A42 was planned around 1982 and like so many other public works projects in the 1980s, it was done on the cheap it's much shorter than the originally planned route, and because it terminated on the opposite side of M1 junction 24 to the original route, the terminal junction (23A) had to be linked to 24 with collector/distributor lanes, making it more complicated; the original terminal junction was a simple fork

I’ve travelled that road a lot, never once have I seen the Gold Hollow Tower! Loving the videos, keep it up!

As someone that worked on 4 sections of the M42 construction, and two of the sections widening the M5 , and just finished 12 months on HS2, great video 👌🏻😎

The SEPECAT Jaguar is absolutely one of my favorites, that boxy, geometric silhouette, yet equally sleek, like a dart. Had no idea one was just laying around out there like that. The RAF Manston History Museum down here in Kent has one that was last in service as late as 2005 on display, but without the signature green paint scheme. It's a shame this one has been left to decay like that, honestly.

Lydiate is pronounced Lid-iyat. I looked up the little under bridge under the M42 on old OS maps and it just seems to be an occupation bridge or a right of way. The sand pit which you mentioned was the Shepley Sand Company, my brother drove a tipper truck for them in the 1950s. At the end of World War 2 two P51 Mustang fighter aircraft collided and crashed into the sand pit.

I have no idea why I keep watching these, but I'm glad you keep making them.

I lived in Bromsgrove at the time the M42 had not yet been connected up to the M5 so it started at Bromsgrove. I worked in Solihull, and there were many early mornings when I had the motorway to myself.

Auto Shenanigans - for when a single auto shenanigan isn't enough 👍

Not many channels where I can learn about the M42 and hear a short section of the theme tune to The Poddington Peas - fabulous, thank you 🙏

HS2 is "tearing up the countryside" but the 14 lane motorway is not?

Another cracking vid and tunes 😎 cheers John 🙂👍

Additional bonus hearing the poddington peas theme. Absolute banger.

I had my first experience of "all lanes running" recently and it just seems like you now have two lanes of nose-to-tail juggernauts to negotiate instead of one.

Where the M42 ended in the 70s by Coleshill. It was used as a car park for the motor show at the NEC a couple of times. Plus the early Birmingham/ fun run marathon used that bit for the runners. Also the difference between the variable speed part of the M42 and other sections. Is that the hard shoulder is still working until the motorway gets too slow

7:08 “HS2 Tearing up the countryside”, ….but let’s carry on looking at this Wonderful motorway 🤣🤣🤣🤣

the music clips crack me up. hilarious and random. but i never know what they are. including your jazzy theme tune!

Interesting as always greetings from Scotland thanks 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

bostin are kidda 👍 you missed out Tamworth where Julian cope from teardrop explodes is from lol 🍻 another spiffing video Jon 👍

Wonderful wee film, as usual. Love these.

Another winner cheers 🍻

Great show highly informative and the right amount of humour as normal

I'm enjoying guess the TV theme 😊😊

My favourite so far. Please keep up the excellent work!

The most interesting thing about the M42 for me is that in one section, it is uphill in both directions. Or at least seems that way to my perception. I use the M42 6 times a day and honestly didn't know about some of these things.

This is such an awesome series!

Just here to appreciate the animal hospital theme being used 👌👌👌

Worked on the M42 at various times. Whateley Lane Bridge, on the Trinity Road side, has a bridge abutment that needed to be modified as it was built 1m out of place. Only being discovered when the concrete beams were in mid-air. Not easily noticeable now due to vegetation

Thanks Great Video. I once read that the reason the A42 at the north of the M42 was not upgraded to motorway was because the original idea for the extension of the M42 northwards, was to go across the Countryside in a new alignment, west of East Midlands Airport and meet the M1 up near Nottingham. the Existing A42 is quite bendy when you observe the map and the M1 kind of swerves around the East side of the Airport. Just above the Airport the M1 has an alignment that would meet a straighter extension of the M42.

Wonderful stuff as ever. Thanks. Still loving the hat.

Just found this channel. Absolutely love it. Great presenting style and humour. Many thanks.

Another interesting video! Love the music choices. Cheers.

Good video. Thank you

Just been driving the length of the M42 today (slowly) and I thought “oh have not seen the secrets of the M42 yet”. Now sorted 💪🏼

Such a lovely informative series.

Silver Birch Trees are "silver" because of the tree's bark, which is silvery-looking! Fallen leaves are-you guessed it-yellow! just like most of the other leaves 🍁🍁🍁😃 P.S I love this series! liked and subbed 🚙🚙🚙

Thanks for posting. Another great video. For your abandoned roads. To the south of the junction of the A303 and A 350 there is an 800m stretch adjacent to the west side of the A350. I would suggest visiting in wintertime as it is now quite heavily vegetated. All the best.

I should really apologies as I've been binge watching all your uploads over the past week and this is the first time I've commented! I really enjoy your content from the service stations to the car meets so hopefully you don't run out of ideas anytime soon! Keep up the good work! Also the drone work is highly underated! 👍👍👍

I look forward to your videos every week. Keep up the good work

I'm not even from the UK but i really enjoy watching all your videos.

Road I'm gonna be using alot over the next year or so, mainly to get between the A47 at Leicester and the A5 to run round the north of Birmingham to get to Wolverhampton whilst avoiding the worst of the traffic on the M6. Might be a little slower but it's a shorter route than A11/A14/M6/M54 and thus less fuel used which is a bonus at the moment. Certainly will keep my eyes peeled for the various sights.

Starting watching an interesting video about motorways and suddenly found myself bopping along to the poddington peas theme. Great video.

These just get better and better Jon!

Hey I've watched a lot of videos and I know this video is five months old but I love that I found your channel. I'm not from the UK but I've been wanting to learn more about British highways since it's sort of a hobby of mine.

These are fascinating. I don't drive or own a car but I love an 'abandoned' video. Never seem to find myself on motorways these days so it's a lost world to me. Keep up the good work. 👍

Another excellent and informative episode Jon, as for the tower it just looks like a Giant Chip!

Cheers for another excellent vid

Hard to miss a 40ft gold tower on top of a hill - I missed it, I had no idea it was there

6:40 Reminds me of the M8, M74 and M77 all coming together in Glasgow. Absolutely manic!

As someone who's used the M42 from 3a to 6 since before it was built (it originally ended at Jct 4 going south), can I try to put the smart motorway and A42 extension into context. Back then, they didn't understand what a great road it would become. M1 relief and a NE/SW link seem to have worded like a dream. From the day it was built it's always been over capacity. The growth of the NEC complex plus the fact there is no direct route into Birmingham from the M40 mean the traffic from 3a to 6 just gets more and more. So, something had to be done and the cost of widening with all the complex bridges involved would be crazy. Motorways are the safest roads in the country so using the emergency stopping lane had to be considered. Personally I find it brilliant. I often travel from Jct. 3 to Jct 5 and staying in lane 1 gets me past Jct 4 easily (while the maniacs are pushing each other in lanes 2 and 3). With the hard shoulder open, it's then cruising past the jam on the main carriageway and off up the Jct 5 slip road. As for the A42, they just ran out of money!

Fascinating about the A45 over-under junction. I've used that junction 100s of times and never noticed that odd feature.

So I live in Catshill & this is just fascinating

I love to watch your series about motorways. I’m waiting for M23

Your channel is awesome man. Bloody great work 🍻

I'm a fan of this kind of stuff, so to find a channel with high quality videos like this is great! Definitely subscribing!

Well done your vids are so interesting

Would love to see you do the M50. There are a few interesting facts and features for a short motorway.

Nice one mate

Ah, the M42. The motorway that would’ve been a brilliant link between Birmingham and Nottingham/Derby, but ended up crap thanks to a mixture of cancelled projects and a distinct lack of money. If I recall, the original plan to carry on to the original drop-off point on the M1 was cancelled and the upgrade of the A42 was horribly underfunded, leading to the aforementioned narrow bridges and carriageways that can’t easily be widened. It’s just like that other folly of motorway rubbishness, the A616 Stocksbridge Bypass. If the M67 ever got the green light to finally be the motorway between Manchester and Sheffield that we all need, this stretch (which is on the originally planned line) would need some major changes to the grade separated junctions to come anywhere close to motorway standards. The stupid bit being, it’s going to be needed soon enough; Since the decision that the three existing trunk routes were deemed good enough, the A423 Mam Tor road has completely disappeared down the Mam Tor and the A57 Snake Pass is in such a poor state in places that it can no longer support heavy vehicles (plus the crapness of having to drive through Glossop). The end result is that the A628 Woodhead Pass is now so overloaded that even the slightest issue leaves it in a complete mess. But I digress. We’re crap a building east-west motorways in this country.

Can’t wait for the M4 episode!

Kudos 👌 for the M4/A470 fact in a video about the M42!

Further up the A42 was planned to have a motorway link to the a50 near EMA - some amazing planned motorways in that area! Is it nerdy that I know you’re at the McDs on the A444 on the southern end of the Measham loop of the Tamworth road? 😂

3rd Rock From the Sun, nice

“They’re literally tearing up the countryside”. Just as well they didn’t have to do that to build the motorways you’re enthusing about! A lot of the HS2 work is also temporary. Factories for building bridge and tunnel segments, haul roads to keep traffic off the existing network. These will all be removed after construction, with massive planting schemes etc to create new wildlife habitats.

Yes! Love these. Come to NI please.

Poddington Peas! 👏🏻

I didn't wake up today expecting to have the theme tune from Animal Hospital stuck in my head, yet here we are

I’m going to have to watch some of the chunks at slow speed! Especially the maps & aerial photos - I like to take in the detail. For me it would be good to have the before & after side-by-side, easier for my ageing brain to make the comparison. That said I love love love your videos, great fun & really interesting. 😍

Quality 👍👌

You forgot to tell the real history of the M42 ! It started at the M6 and stopped at the then J4 A34 Solihull because of an ancient burial ground for the plague. Eventually they got permission and the money to remove the cemetery, built it round to the M5 and reversed the numbers to start at the M5. That quarry was later used as a landfill sight too, which apparently is why the M42 sinks because of what's underneath.

Julian Copes 1984 album "Fried".. cover photo is him on top of Pooley park mound.

I am enjoying this , as the last comment said the A1 is very interesting.

Brilliant as always........... You must come to Manchester and I can share with you some of our most curious and bonkers motorway delights !

I think the most impressive think about this video is the fact that despite not hearing the Poddington Peas theme tune for at least 30 years, hearing a snippet of it enabled my brain to regurgitate the complete lyrics instantly and flawlessly. Worrying that I can remember that and yet can't remember why I went from one room to another..

I remember driving a Subaru 1600 DL estate in the early 1980s. Great car.

Very interesting to watch as this is my local motorway, I live near J2 (Alvechurch) and regularly commute between J1&2 as I work in Catshill

Most of the spoil for the raised section of the M42 from the M6 to Water Orton came from the Kingsbury colliery, and fly ash from the now defunct Hams Hall power station , the dunton island section through Kingsbury was very wet and had to be dug out with dragline excavators, 1000’s of tons of blasted rock had to be used as fill . HS2 are finding the conditions tough crossing that section , they will launch a bridge over that section possibly next year HS2 has really changed the landscape, the same companies and men I worked with in the 80’s would probably have had HS2 built by now at half the cost , and probably safer! 🤔