Spaghetti Junction turns 40 - in pictures

Spaghetti Junction, officially called the Gravelly Hill Interchange, is at junction six on the M6 motorway in Birmingham Photograph: Andrew Fox The junction will be 40 years old on 24 May Photograph: Andrew Fox The interchange was given its nickname by a Birmingham newspaper reporter who likened it to a plate of spaghetti Photograph: Andrew Fox The junction took 11 years to plan and four years to build, costing £10.8m Photograph: Andrew Fox The 30-acre site is supported by 559 concrete columns up to 80 feet high Photograph: Andrew Fox It spans several roads, two rivers, two railway lines and three canals Photograph: Andrew Fox The site was supposedly of such strategic importance that it was thought to be a nuclear bomb target for Russia in the Cold War Photograph: Andrew Fox In 2009, the interchange was voted Britain's most intimidating road system Photograph: Andrew Fox It was originally designed to take 75,000 vehicles a day, but it now deals with twice that amount. In its 40-year history there has been close to 2bn vehicles passing through Photograph: Andrew Fox