At about midnight what sort of delay am I looking at to get through this diversion.
Through Stafford. At that time of night 15 mins?
Your joking it took nearly an hour and a half last night ! Will be worse tonight, I’m going down the 54 of at j3 and up the a41 and get back on at M6 j15 to avoid this mess , made worse by the M42 closed at 3a to 4 so you can’t escape that way either !
Yes your right I’m not happy about it lol …
Tangray:
Your joking it took nearly an hour and a half last night ! Will be worse tonight, I’m going down the 54 of at j3 and up the a41 and get back on at M6 j15 to avoid this mess , made worse by the M42 closed at 3a to 4 so you can’t escape that way either !
Yes your right I’m not happy about it lol …
That’s the way I go if there’s more than 20 minutes to be lost,through Eccleshall and th A41 outside Newport.It’s a bit windy,and I don’t recollect any problems for deckers.
bigvern1:
Through Stafford. At that time of night 15 mins?
no chance! i caught this on monday night and it was static from just after j12. the queue was that bad that we didnt move an inch for over 30 mins and people were out of their vehicles wandering around on the motorway. the problem, according to the HA who i rang to rant at, is very bad timing of some traffic lights in stafford town centre which only let about 3 cars through before changing back to red for 2 mins. it took me about an hour and 3/4 to get from just after j12 to back on at j14, completely ridiculous.
tues and wed night i went up via the outskirts of walsall and up the a5 and 38 instead but last night the a38 was completely shut northbound at burton as well 
(top side) and there’s no easy way to get round that so i came off the m6 at j11 and then went up through cannock and the 34 to stafford. problem is that the 34 is littered with gatsos and 30, 40mph limits pretty much all the way and if you get stuck behind some jobsworth (like the blakemore rigid i had in front of me, doing 2 mph less than the limits) it’s slow progress. still, i reckon it probably only cost me about 20 mins extra in total going that way whereas it would’ve been probably an hour and 1/2 delay staying on the m6.
This J13-14 diversion is a real nightmare. I do Lancashire to Farnborough then back upto Lancs every night and there is no real easy alternative route that doesn’t involve loads of messing around on Staffordshire A-roads or coming off at J12 and going up through Eccleshall. It took 1 hour for me to get through at approx 2am on Monday night and 45mins to get through on Tuesday. Wed & Thur I went back via the M1 & A50 rather than the usual M40, M42, M6, but this itself adds about 30 mins to the journey.
As mentioned previously, the lights in Stafford town centre need changing when this diversion is in force, they’re on green for about 10 seconds and let only a handful of wagons few, they should be on green for about a minute as usually nothing is queuing at the other set of lights at that time. Once you get through these lights it’s pretty plain sailing through the other side of town and upto J14.
I’ve been tempted to ring the HA or Staffs Constabulary about this one, do they not communicate to each other about these things!?
Been driving for a living since 2007, which I appreciate is not long compared to most people on here, but the amount of roadworks & closures at night at the moment is a joke, has anyone experienced a worse time than this over the years?
i would say best bet is
come off m6 at j11 towards cannock
take the A460 towards rugeley through hednesford
then take the A51 towards Stone
come off at weston
then take A518 , then A513 , A34 for 2 mins
and back on M6 at J14
Just went through at 0.30 and I was delayed by 25 minutes. Apart from just off M6 it flowed freely but slow.
villa:
i would say best bet is
come off m6 at j11 towards cannock
take the A460 towards rugeley through hednesford
then take the A51 towards Stone
come off at weston
then take A518 , then A513 , A34 for 2 mins
and back on M6 at J14
“best bet” in terms of what? if it’s the “best bet” for the most hilarious route ever from point a to point b then i wont argue with you. i bid everyone else to look up the above route on googlemaps just to see how ridiculous it. cannock to stafford via a34 = 10.5 miles. cannock to stafford via route above = 25 miles. 
LASHHGV:
Just went through at 0.30 and I was delayed by 25 minutes. Apart from just off M6 it flowed freely but slow.
So…I was only 10 mins out! 
I run out of Stafford by j14. Easy way is m6 take the toll road come off m42 head for the A446 Belfy A38 come off for Lichfield A51 Rugley Stone nip up the A34 to j15 if going north.
Not good for 16ft plus thought
0a.:
villa:
i would say best bet is
come off m6 at j11 towards cannock
take the A460 towards rugeley through hednesford
then take the A51 towards Stone
come off at weston
then take A518 , then A513 , A34 for 2 mins
and back on M6 at J14“best bet” in terms of what? if it’s the “best bet” for the most hilarious route ever from point a to point b then i wont argue with you. i bid everyone else to look up the above route on googlemaps just to see how ridiculous it. cannock to stafford via a34 = 10.5 miles. cannock to stafford via route above = 25 miles.
so when the M6 is shut J13 TO J14 you would rather waste a hour and half
queueing to get off j12 to j13
then queueing for ages to get through the ridiculous traffic lights in stafford
good thinking mate
although if you are going futher north than J14
like robthegreat says above
stay on the A51, then A34 , to rejoin m6 at j15
Is this closure night time only? Does anybody know how long this is going to be going on for?
Only asking as I don’t get up that way too much anymore but have an overnight drive up there around midnight in late December
Cheers
Javiatrix:
Is this closure night time only? Does anybody know how long this is going to be going on for?Only asking as I don’t get up that way too much anymore but have an overnight drive up there around midnight in late December
Cheers
10pm-6am, according to the Highways Agency info sign when you leave at J13 it was all of last week, I did notice that there were also 2 other nights in Dec when it’s closed but I can’t remember which dates they were, will have a look next week when passing.
Thanks Sprinter Si, if you can’t don’t worry, I really wanted to check whether it was something long term every single night but as it stands I’ll take my chances, I’ll not be up there for another month as it stands 
At night when the M6 is closed Northbound between 13 and 14 it can take anything from an hour to an hour and a half to get through Stafford and all it is caused by is this one set of traffic lights at the gyratory in the town centre.
As soon as you get through these you have a clear run up to Junction 14.
The Highways Agency are a total disgrace with no thought what so ever for the 100s of vehicles and people stuck in the queue.
All it would need to eleviate the situation at night on this, one of the worst M6 diversions, would be either to turn these lights off or have plod control the traffic at night.
Christ its not rocket science!!!
But hey ho what do the Highways Agency care about delays they just don’t give a toss!!!
I was real lucky with this, came through one morning at 4.30 and they just lifted the cones as I got to the junction but the queues looked horrendous going into Stafford, there’s no easy solution to this closure, Stafford’s a bottleneck any time of day.
Agree with Moomooland though they could sort out the traffic light sequence when this is on.
One way around this which i now use is off at Junction 12 on to the A5 to the A449 when you get to the centre of Penkridge turn right at Barclays Bank on to Mill Street which continues on to Teddesley Road.
Follow it through to A34.
Turn left to Stafford and WALLOP your at the front of the queue at the gyratory.
Teddesley Road is a bit narrow in places but at 1 in the morning have yet to meet anything coming the other way.
Trev_H:
I was real lucky with this, came through one morning at 4.30 and they just lifted the cones as I got to the junction but the queues looked horrendous going into Stafford, there’s no easy solution to this closure, Stafford’s a bottleneck any time of day.
Agree with Moomooland though they could sort out the traffic light sequence when this is on.
Hiya Trev…plenty of back lanes between 12 and 15 but it dosn,t take them long to get blocked up. ok on the bike i suppose.i once did a job in Woodseaves two load a day for 6 weeks.
dead easy from the M6
there was only me on the road past Happy Days once every one knows that road…nightmare…have a good Xmas mate, iam on my way to Spain for a dozen weeks or so.
that M6 was murder whan i was running down thursday. see you mate
John
3300John:
Trev_H:
I was real lucky with this, came through one morning at 4.30 and they just lifted the cones as I got to the junction but the queues looked horrendous going into Stafford, there’s no easy solution to this closure, Stafford’s a bottleneck any time of day.
Agree with Moomooland though they could sort out the traffic light sequence when this is on.Hiya Trev…plenty of back lanes between 12 and 15 but it dosn,t take them long to get blocked up. ok on the bike i suppose.i once did a job in Woodseaves two load a day for 6 weeks.
dead easy from the M6
there was only me on the road past Happy Days once every one knows that road…nightmare…have a good Xmas mate, iam on my way to Spain for a dozen weeks or so.
that M6 was murder whan i was running down thursday. see you mate
John
Ha ! have a good Xmas John, think of us poor sods stuck here in the traffic !