{"id":27904,"date":"1996-09-30T23:59:44","date_gmt":"1996-09-30T23:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/?p=27904"},"modified":"2026-08-23T01:13:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T01:13:03","slug":"birmingham-1996","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/","title":{"rendered":"Birmingham 1996 – a 35mm film retrospective"},"content":{"rendered":"

I found myself stuck in heavy traffic the M6 on the Gravelly Hill Interchange – AKA Spaghetti Junction. Radio said I could be stuck up there for hours. So I exited the M6 motorway at junction 6 and turned onto the A38(M), what they laughingly call the “Aston Expressway”. That was bumper-to-bumper too. So I turned off that and ended up actually underneath the Gravelly Hill Interchange. Where I found all sorts of wonderful and unexpected things.<\/strong><\/p>\n

ngg_shortcode_0_placeholderI spent the entire afternoon in the park. Spent a while passing the time with a gaggle of Canada geese. The park seemed almost eerily quiet, with just the faint hum of thousands of idling engines, in the traffic jam  20 or so metres above the park. The pillars supporting the elevated motorway were covered in scaffolding.<\/p>\n

Motorway in the sky<\/h2>\n

Spaghetti Junction opened in 1972, so my photos were about 24 years after construction. However, the combination of Birmingham’s weather, road salt, exhaust pollution, water meant it was already showing its age. The structure is far more complicated underneath that it looks when one drives over it. Apparently this really was a substantial programme of repair and refurbishment. National Highways reckons this work should extend the life of the interchange for decades.<\/p>\n

The interchange is particularly complex because when it was built, engineers weren’t just building a road junction in an empty field. They had to get the motorway system over two railway lines, three canals and two rivers. Which is why so much of it is up in the air, I guess.<\/p>\n

I also learned recently that the space underneath is now actually promoted as a walking and photography destination. Visit Birmingham<\/em> describes the area beneath Spaghetti Junction a \u201cstartling and unique space\u201d and specifically says it’s a place for photographers. But I was unaware of such things at the time.<\/p>\n

And as luck would have it, by the time I had finished exploring and photographing the place, the log-jam on the M6 had cleared. Which meant I could enjoy a pleasant jam-free journey home to Southampton.<\/p>\n

\n

This has been posted retrospectively. This images were originally taken and scanned from 35mm film to appear in articles I was writing at the time. A few appeared in the New Millennium ezine. But most were uploaded into the old Coppermine media library and forgotten, So I dug them out of the archives, cleaned them up a bit and reposted them all here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I found myself stuck in heavy traffic the M6 on the Gravelly Hill Interchange – AKA Spaghetti Junction. Radio said I could be stuck up there for hours. So I exited the M6 motorway at junction 6 and turned onto the A38(M), what they laughingly call the “Aston Expressway”. That was bumper-to-bumper too. So I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1621,6,680,1625,1619],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-35mm-film-photography","category-journal","category-photography","category-retrospective","category-travelogue"],"yoast_head":"\nBirmingham 1996 - a 35mm film retrospective - GarfNet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I found myself stuck in heavy traffic the M6 on the Gravelly Hill Interchange. So I turned off that and ended up in the park beneath the M6.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Birmingham 1996 - a 35mm film retrospective - GarfNet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I found myself stuck in heavy traffic the M6 on the Gravelly Hill Interchange. So I turned off that and ended up in the park beneath the M6.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GarfNet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"1996-09-30T23:59:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-23T01:13:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/nggallery_import\/1996-image-5509-birmingham.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1485\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"990\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Garf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Garf\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/1996\\\/09\\\/30\\\/birmingham-1996\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/1996\\\/09\\\/30\\\/birmingham-1996\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Garf\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635\"},\"headline\":\"Birmingham 1996 – a 35mm film retrospective\",\"datePublished\":\"1996-09-30T23:59:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-23T01:13:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/1996\\\/09\\\/30\\\/birmingham-1996\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":425,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/1996\\\/09\\\/30\\\/birmingham-1996\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/nggallery_import\\\/1996-image-5509-birmingham.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"35mm film pictures\",\"Journal\",\"Photography\",\"Retrospective\",\"Travelogue\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/1996\\\/09\\\/30\\\/birmingham-1996\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/1996\\\/09\\\/30\\\/birmingham-1996\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/1996\\\/09\\\/30\\\/birmingham-1996\\\/\",\"name\":\"Birmingham 1996 - a 35mm film retrospective - GarfNet\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/1996\\\/09\\\/30\\\/birmingham-1996\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/1996\\\/09\\\/30\\\/birmingham-1996\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/nggallery_import\\\/1996-image-5509-birmingham.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"1996-09-30T23:59:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-23T01:13:03+00:00\",\"description\":\"I found myself stuck in heavy traffic the M6 on the Gravelly Hill Interchange. So I turned off that and ended up in the park beneath the M6.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/1996\\\/09\\\/30\\\/birmingham-1996\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/1996\\\/09\\\/30\\\/birmingham-1996\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/1996\\\/09\\\/30\\\/birmingham-1996\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/nggallery_import\\\/1996-image-5509-birmingham.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/nggallery_import\\\/1996-image-5509-birmingham.jpg\",\"width\":1485,\"height\":990},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/1996\\\/09\\\/30\\\/birmingham-1996\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Birmingham 1996 – a 35mm film retrospective\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/\",\"name\":\"GarfNet\",\"description\":\"Penguin-powered and full of Unixy goodness, since 1995...\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635\",\"name\":\"Garf\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png\",\"width\":2420,\"height\":1928,\"caption\":\"Garf\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/garfnet.org.uk\\\/cms\\\/author\\\/garf-admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Birmingham 1996 - a 35mm film retrospective - GarfNet","description":"I found myself stuck in heavy traffic the M6 on the Gravelly Hill Interchange. So I turned off that and ended up in the park beneath the M6.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Birmingham 1996 - a 35mm film retrospective - GarfNet","og_description":"I found myself stuck in heavy traffic the M6 on the Gravelly Hill Interchange. So I turned off that and ended up in the park beneath the M6.","og_url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/","og_site_name":"GarfNet","article_published_time":"1996-09-30T23:59:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-23T01:13:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1485,"height":990,"url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/nggallery_import\/1996-image-5509-birmingham.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Garf","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Garf","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/"},"author":{"name":"Garf","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#\/schema\/person\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635"},"headline":"Birmingham 1996 – a 35mm film retrospective","datePublished":"1996-09-30T23:59:44+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-23T01:13:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/"},"wordCount":425,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#\/schema\/person\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/nggallery_import\/1996-image-5509-birmingham.jpg","articleSection":["35mm film pictures","Journal","Photography","Retrospective","Travelogue"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/","url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/","name":"Birmingham 1996 - a 35mm film retrospective - GarfNet","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/nggallery_import\/1996-image-5509-birmingham.jpg","datePublished":"1996-09-30T23:59:44+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-23T01:13:03+00:00","description":"I found myself stuck in heavy traffic the M6 on the Gravelly Hill Interchange. So I turned off that and ended up in the park beneath the M6.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/nggallery_import\/1996-image-5509-birmingham.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/nggallery_import\/1996-image-5509-birmingham.jpg","width":1485,"height":990},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/1996\/09\/30\/birmingham-1996\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Birmingham 1996 – a 35mm film retrospective"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#website","url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/","name":"GarfNet","description":"Penguin-powered and full of Unixy goodness, since 1995...","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#\/schema\/person\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/#\/schema\/person\/27529e0ea0460ec8c299743f70c06635","name":"Garf","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png","url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png","width":2420,"height":1928,"caption":"Garf"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/garflogo-garfnet-1.png"},"url":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/author\/garf-admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27904"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43301,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27904\/revisions\/43301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garfnet.org.uk\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}