Which Birmingham interchange originally inspired the nickname Spaghetti Junction?

The Birmingham interchange originally associated with the nickname “Spaghetti Junction” is the Gravelly Hill Interchange.

The junction is in Birmingham, England, and officially carries the name Gravelly Hill Interchange. It links the M6 motorway with the A38(M) Aston Expressway, the A38, the A5127 and local roads. Its unusually tangled appearance, with ramps crossing at several levels, inspired the food-based nickname.

The phrase was popularised on 1 June 1965 by Birmingham Evening Mail journalists. Reporter Roy Smith compared the planned structure with “a plate of spaghetti” and an unsuccessful Staffordshire knot, while sub-editor Alan Eaglesfield used “Spaghetti Junction” as the headline. The interchange itself opened on 24 May 1972, so the nickname predates its completion.

A common mix-up is treating “Spaghetti Junction” as the official name or as a generic term only. It can describe complex interchanges worldwide, but Birmingham’s original British example is specifically the Gravelly Hill Interchange.