The interchange's colloquial name "Spaghetti Junction" was coined in 1965 by journalists from the BirminghamEvening Mail. On 1 June 1965, reporter Roy Smith described plans for the then unbuilt junction as a "cross between a plate of spaghetti and an unsuccessful attempt at a Staffordshire knot" and sub-editor Alan Eaglesfield headlined the article "Spaghetti Junction". The asymmetrical junction provides access to and from the A38, A38, the A5127, and several unclassified local roads. It covers, serves 18 routes and includes of slip roads, but only of the M6 itself. Across 5 different levels, it has 559 concrete columns, reaching up to. The engineers had to elevate of motorway to accommodate two railway lines, three canals, and two rivers. In 1958, the Ministry of Transport commissioned the engineering firm, Sir Owen Williams & Partners, to investigate possible routes to connect the M6, the A38 and the A38 trunk road. The development of the interchange was approved and announced in August 1968 by the then Minister of Transport, Richard Marsh. Construction was expected to take three years and to cost £8m. Construction started in 1968 and the junction was opened in May 1972 by the then Secretary of State for the Environment, Peter Walker. The opening was delayed by several months because of "box girder inspections". These followed the interim report of the Merrison Enquiry set up following the collapse of similar box girder bridges in Australia and Wales. In an unusual meeting of old and new transport technology, the pillars supporting the flyovers over the Birmingham Canal Navigations had to be carefully placed to enable a horse-drawn canal boat to pass under the interchange without fouling the towing rope. The junction has undergone major repair work several times since, owing to the very heavy traffic through the junction, and some alleged cost-saving measures during its construction. In November 2007, a sliproad running from the Tyburn Road onto the Aston Expressway was closed to undergo urgent repair works. Upon inspection, it was found that Spaghetti Junction itself was in need of repair work because salt and grit had weakened the joints in the structure. The student magazine of Birmingham City University, Spaghetti Junction, takes its name from the interchange's nickname. South-East of the junction, the M6 is on the elevated Bromford Viaduct - the longest viaduct in the UK.
