M6 Toll
The M6 Toll (previously called the Birmingham North Relief Road, or BNRR) is England's first toll-paying motorway. Designed to alleviate the increasing congestion on the M6 through Birmingham, it connects M6 Junction 4 at the NEC to M6 Junction 11 at Wolverhampton with 27 miles of three-lane motorway. The M6 currently carries 180,000 vehicles per day when it was designed to carry only 72,000. The new M6 Toll road is touted by its operator as saving up to 45 minutes journey time over the old road.
The M6 Toll has only a few junctions with limited access, to discourage local traffic from using the new bypass. Unlike modern continental Toll roads, the M6 Toll uses Toll Plazas.
A consortium of major contractors Carillion, Alfred McAlpine, Balfour Beatty and AMEC (together known as CAMBBA) began construction in Mid-2002. The road opened for business in the week beginning December 7 2003 - junctions with minor roads opening on Tuesday the 9th, the southern junction with the M6 due to open on Friday the 12th and the northern junction on Saturday 13th. Once fully opened, control of the road's operation was transferred to the private sector company Midland Expressway Ltd (MEL). MEL has been granted a 53 year licence to collect tolls on the road, expiring in 2057.
As of the road's opening tolls were £1 for motorcycles, £2 for cars, £5 for vans and £10 for lorries, each due to rise by £1 after the first ten million vehicles. A lower price is available during off-peak hours (23:00 - 06:00) as well as at the Langley Mill Toll.