The Lickey End contract started 10 months after the Umberslade contract and included the construction of 4.3 miles of dual 3-lane motorway, 1 interchange and 15 bridges, 3 of which were over railway lines and a canal.
The Contractor was R.M. Douglas Construction Ltd.
The contract included two unusual construction features, the treatment and removal of 60,000m³ of household and industrial waste and the construction of 450m of new canal. The motorway cut through 3 tips at the western end of the contract and the toxic material had to be treated before it could be disposed of. The non-toxic material was placed in off-site tips and landscaped. An 80m length of the motorway was constructed over one of the tips, leaving 7m of waste material below the motorway.
The Worcester and Birmingham canal was diverted to its new alignment as a result of representations made at the 1974 Public Inquiry. The canal diversion is about 12m wide and 1.2m deep, and its opening in March 1985 was celebrated by a procession of decorated canal boats with hooters sounding.
The construction of the Lickey End contract was completed in May 1986 and on 5th June 1986, the Lickey End and Alvechurch sections were opened. Traffic could now travel from the Lickey End A38 Interchange to the Curdworth Interchange A446, using the Lickey End, Alvechurch, Umberslade, Solihull and Water Orton contracts.
