M5 drivers face months of disruption as major £5.9m works get underway

Speed restrictions and some overnight closures will be in place on the M5 in the coming months as National Highways carries out a £5.9million programme of drainage works.

Drivers leaving and entering Exeter will be subject to 50mph speed limits during the works, which will focus around junction 26 just over the border into Somerset.

To enable the work, National Highways will maintain three narrow lanes in each direction through the junction with a speed limit of 50mph for the majority of the works, which begin on Monday, October 20 and are expected to finish at the end of February.

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For safety reasons, a 50mph speed limit will also be in place northbound from October 28 until February 19, with a similar speed restriction in place on the southbound carriageway from November 2 until February 11.

National Highways said a small number of overnight closures will be required to install the traffic management and signage and during the full road closures, signed diversions will be in place southbound from junction 25 to junction J27, via the A358 and A38 and the northbound in reverse.

The work is intended to improve drainage and alleviate flooding on the verges and carriageway near junction 26 for Wellington, reducing the likelihood of future wet weather-related incidents and closures.

Jonathan Hill, National Highways’ South West route manager, said: “This is an essential scheme which will bring twofold benefits in terms of safety and wet weather resilience, reducing the likelihood of flooding and surface water issues at this location.

“As with all schemes, we’ve worked closely with partners to find a suitable timeframe to deliver the project, we’re doing all we can to keep disruption to an absolute minimum and we thank all drivers in advance for their co-operation and patience while we carry out this essential work.

“The work has been programmed to follow Somerset Council’s concrete renewal scheme at the junction and Chelston link road – the two schemes couldn’t be carried out at the same time as this would have significantly impacted people’s journey times during the busy summer months, both on the motorway and local roads around the junction.”

Full information, including all overnight and lane closures and further details of maintenance schemes in the South West can be found at https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-work/south-west