Hi all,

Off to Brum tomorrow for a gig, and will be heading in to the Symphony Hall around 6:00. Is it likely to be a traffic nightmare, or will all the traffic be outbound?

where you coming from?

Brum traffic is grim from all directions from around 4’ish to 7 i’sh – not much help.

Very. It always is.

Going in at that time will be a bit lighter than comeing out, but still very heavy. 5 ways is always a sticking pont……mind you I ain’t driven there regularly for 7 years so could be a lot better now!

It will be heavy but should be moving if you’re going into town. See if you can avoid 5-Ways though, that will be horrible, you can go left at the Ivy Bush and approach it from the back which might be OK.

I’d come off the Hagley Rd and head down to Oldbury, go straight over the island by the motorway towards Oldbury take a right at the island by Sainsbury’s, then follow that under the Motorway, straight on through Smethwick towards Brum, you then come to an island take the left down the side of The Moilliet Arms Pub, follow the road to the end, turn left with the hospital on your right, follow down, go straight over the big Island, then get in right hand lane for parking behind Symphony Hall.

Google maps
Locate area/road of interest
Select “traffic” from right hand side of page
Select “change” next to “Live traffic” box on page
Dial in your desired day/time and the map will show you the “typical” traffic speeds based upon historical data.

Or ask a brummie 🙂

Going in shouldn’t be too bad at all (just stick to the outside lane all the way and watch the speed cameras) Don’t go up on to five ways by accident as you’ll be stuck there

Cheers all – I do the trip fairly regularly, coming up the M5 from S Wales but never on a Friday eve.

Looking forward to Alison Krauss!

Edit – allthepies, does that work on a phone? Tell you what, I’ll try it…

Hagley Rd on the way in won’t actually be too bad. But lock your car doors on the way through.

Looking out of the window now its completly chocka going in and out of town between 5 ways and the Plough and Harrow hotel, its normally a bit quieter going into town on a Friday though.

Thanks again all. For info, Google maps on my phone appears to have a layer for traffic. Cool!