The UK’s Highways England is set to start the next phase of repair work on the £100m Oldbury Viaduct project on the M5 carriageway in the West Midlands.

Work on one carriageway of the Oldbury Viaduct, between junctions 1 and 2, is nearing completion. Beginning on 3 September, the entire operation to repair the road will start at the northbound carriageway.

The transferring process is expected to continue over the week and will be carried out overnight to minimise disruption and ensure traffic can keep moving during the day.

“We were only able to fully assess the condition of the southbound carriageway once the work had started and found around 6,000 individual repairs were needed, which is 4,500 more than anticipated.”

During the switching process, two lanes will remain open in each direction. However, motorists should leave extra time for their journeys in order to familiarise themselves with the new road layout.

Highways England Service Delivery head Andrew Butterfield said: “We’re fast approaching completion of work on the southbound carriageway and the switch to the northbound carriageway will mean a new road layout.

“We were only able to fully assess the condition of the southbound carriageway once the work had started and found around 6,000 individual repairs were needed, which is 4,500 more than anticipated.

“We understand the level of disruption this project involves, and we’d like to thank motorists, businesses and residents for their patience.”

M5 Oldbury is believed to be the largest scaffolding project in Europe, as more than 400 miles of scaffolding has been erected.

A contra-flow system is currently being used for traffic on the carriageway to keep the motorway open during the project.

Slip roads at junctions 1 and 2 will remain open upon during the switching process so that traffic pressure on the local network can be eased.