M42 motorway

M42
Looking south towards junction 6
Route information
Part of E05
Maintained by Highways England
Length	40.0 mi (64.4 km)
Existed	1976–present
History	Opened: 1976 Completed: 1989
Major junctions
Southwest end	Catshill
Major intersections	M5 motorway J3a → M40 motorway J7 → M6 motorway M6 motorway M6 motorway M6 Toll
Northeast end	Appleby Magna
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Counties	Worcestershire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Leicestershire
Primary destinations	Bromsgrove Solihull Birmingham Airport Tamworth
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones
← M40 M45 →

The M42 is a motorway in the Midlands of England. It runs northeast from the M5 near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire to near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire. It runs south of the West Midlands conurbation, going through Solihull and Birmingham Airport. Here, it crosses the M6 motorway. It then goes past Coleshill and then past Tamworth, before ending. At the end of the motorway, just south of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, it becomes the A42.

The road was first built in the 1970s, and was built to make a motorway between the East and West Midlands. It is now also used as part of a ring road around Birmingham nicknamed the "Birmingham Box". It is made up of parts of the M5, M6, and M42 motorways.^[1]

1. ↑ "M42 and A42". Roads. Retrieved 15 June 2020.