M6 Junction 38 – A685 Tebay
Junction 38 of the M6 is where the M6 meets the A685, for Tebay / Kirkby Stephen. Villages right beside the junction include Tebay, Greenholme and Orton.
Roads that meet at or beside this junction: A685, B6260. The main road at the junction is the A685.
From here, the drive north to junction 39 (Shap) is about 5.4 miles and the drive south to junction 37 (Sedbergh) is about 8.3 miles. Junction 38 is about 168 miles from the start of the M6 at junction 1 and 43 miles from the end at junction 45.
The nearest motorway services are Tebay services, between J38 and J39.
- Junction M6 J38 · Tebay
- Signed for A685 · Tebay / Kirkby Stephen
- Nearest town Tebay, 0.3 miles south-east
- Map section Section 7: J36–J40, The Lake District, Tebay and Shap
We also have a page on M6 Junctions 36 to 40: the Lake District, the Dales and Shap, with the traffic counts and news for that stretch.
Live traffic at M6 junction 38
The speed strip below shows the M6 from junction 36 to junction 40, both directions, from National Highways’ live data, checked every five minutes.
Live traffic speed flow: M6 Junctions 36 to 40
Untick all three to see just the speeds. We show the important overhead signs and the mandatory speed limits (red ring); see every overhead sign.
Go to our live M6 traffic speed flow map ›
How busy is the M6 at junction 38?
The Department for Transport counts traffic on the stretches either side of this junction. On the stretch it labels J38 to J39 it counted 52,401 vehicles a day in 2025, 12% of them lorries. On the stretch it labels J37 to J38 it counted 43,802 vehicles a day in 2025, 15% of them lorries. See how busy the M6 is junction by junction.
| Stretch (DfT label) | All vehicles a day | Lorries | Miles |
|---|---|---|---|
| J38 to J39 | 52,401 | 6,057 (11.6%) | 5.7 |
| J37 to J38 | 43,802 | 6,531 (14.9%) | 8.8 |
© M6Traffic.co.uk · Statistics from the Department for Transport, 2025
Junctions either side
- J37Killington InterchangeA684 · Sedbergh / KendalNearest town: Sedbergh, 3.9 miles
- J39Shap / Hardendale InterchangeA6 · ShapNearest town: Shap, 1.9 miles
Live traffic news at M6 Junction 38
Incidents and roadworks between Junction 37 and Junction 39 that we are aware of.
M6 Southbound Jct 40 to 39 Lane 3 closure with Narrow lanes (Mp 459/4 - 455/7)
00:305 Oct 2026reported 17 min ago
- Location
- M6 southbound between J40 and J39
- Direction
- Southbound
- Lanes closed
- Lane closures
- Reason
- Maintenance work
- Schedule
- 06:00 Tue 2 June 2026 → 20:00 Fri 13 Nov 2026
Forecast - not confirmed
+ 5 more near Junction 38 - see all the M6 traffic news →
This is the news for Junction 38 only, not the whole M6. For the rest of the motorway see all the latest M6 traffic news, the overhead signs and the speed limits in force now.
Updated 00:47 Mon 5 Oct 2026