[2] Midland Expressway Limited contracted out the construction of the road to a consortium of major contractors Carillion, Alfred McAlpine, Balfour Beatty and Amec (together known as CAMBBA).

[2] Build phase Site clearance started in 2000, major construction work began over the summer of 2002 and the road opened in December 2003.

[2] 2.5 million books, including many Mills & Boon novels, were pulped and mixed into the tarmac surface to help absorb water.

[5] In August 2003, freight operators indicated that they planned to keep their vehicles on the heavily congested M6 through Birmingham rather than send them on the new motorway due to high fees.

[7] On 10 January 2004, five weeks after opening, a short section of the road near Sutton Coldfield was reduced to one lane to allow for repairs to an uneven surface.

[9] In December 2004, one year after opening, Friends of the Earth issued a press release expressing concern that faced with lower than expected traffic numbers, Midland Expressway were trying to attract new traffic-generating developments to greenbelt and greenfield sites in the M6 Toll Corridor.

[10] and in April 2005 the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors reported that there was strong interest in the commercial property market place around the M6 Toll "zone of influence".

[12] In August 2005 the Highways Agency confirmed in its own "one year" study showing that usage had settled at around 50,000 vehicle per day (lower than the predicted 74,000) but that traffic volumes on the M6 had reduced slightly.

If the balance of the account cannot cover the cost of the toll, the barrier will remain closed and an alternative method of payment must be used.

Once the trials have been completed with Maritime and other commercial vehicle operators, the ANPR system will be rolled out to other road users.

E.g. https://www.cityam.com/m6-toll-owner-rakes-in-the-profit-after-price-rises/ shows: -2022 46,715 -2024 48,463 The contract to build and operate the M6 Toll was won by Midland Expressway Limited (MEL) in 1991.

Disappointing traffic figures for 2005 led to a price rise in June, and MIG Chief Executive Steve Allen commented in the Australian newspaper The Age, "What we need is to slow down the M6".

[37] In June 2006 the decision to not increase tolls was put down to disappointing traffic levels and led to a reduction in value for the owner.

While the road was being built, some advocates of direct action dug tunnels under Moneymore Cottage and two large underground bunkers in an adjacent wood named the Greenwood Camp.

Their campaign co-ordinator for the West Midlands, Chris Crean, said that although the £900 million cost of the road had been borne by private companies, the money should have been spent on public transport.

The paper suggested that "The M6 toll road has had mixed success; it is unusual in that it is in direct competition with a free motorway running along the same route; this may account for some of the difficulties it has experienced since opening more than a decade ago.

[43] The aqueduct has been finished but the canal has yet to reach it, giving it an odd appearance, known to some local residents as "The Climbing Lemming Bridge".

In April 2015, Midland Expressway Limited donated £50,000 to Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust to honour an undertaking they made when the M6toll was built.

The donation is a "substantial contribution" towards the cost of reinstating the Crane Brook Culvert which was removed when the motorway was built.

Opened on 9 March 2004, Norton Canes services is located between junctions T6 and T7, and is positioned so that it can be accessed before reaching the main toll plaza in either direction.

This has included a regular cash fund of up to £1,500 given away every month to charities, schools, sports clubs or voluntary organisations helping to enhance the lives of local people.

Each motorway in England requires that a legal document called a statutory instrument be published, detailing the route of the road, before it can be built.