The M6 is Britain’s longest motorway, and the Department for Transport measures traffic on it at 99 separate points. The table below shows every stretch running between named junctions, ordered from busiest to quietest, using the 2025 figures.

Traffic on the M6 is not spread evenly. The busiest stretch carries 187,521 vehicles a day; the quietest in this table carries 9,147. That is a difference of more than twenty times, on the same motorway.

Stretch	All vehicles	Cars & taxis	Lorries	Miles
J20 to J21 spur	187,521	129,006	23,492	2.5
J8W to J9	180,440	113,081	31,213	1.4
J8E to J7	174,714	113,196	24,159	0.5
J30 to J31	171,079	125,451	14,168	2.1
J9 to J10	166,153	106,454	27,805	1.5
J21 spur to J21A	163,344	110,901	21,505	2.4
J31 to J31A	158,691	116,777	12,702	1.9
J6 to J5	147,469	100,593	18,447	3.2
J17 to J18	143,072	94,911	21,167	2.2
J31A to J32	142,912	105,260	11,442	1.8
J24 to J25	141,782	101,161	13,511	1.3
JM6 Toll to J3	134,697	89,342	21,131	7.5
J16 to J17	132,457	89,621	19,484	6.1
J12 to J13	126,514	87,347	17,214	5.3
J13 to J14	123,982	84,853	17,944	5.3
J21A to J22	122,662	82,150	14,552	1.6
J11a to J12	120,925	83,086	16,438	1.6
J14 to J15	118,648	79,211	17,635	11.2
J22 to J23	115,276	78,000	14,832	3.1
J19 to JM56 (J9)	113,562	72,589	17,914	4.6
J25 to J26	113,045	80,113	12,121	2.7
J26 to J27	113,042	78,024	12,289	4.2
J28 to J29	112,960	79,340	10,952	1.9
J27 to J28	111,345	79,009	11,534	7.8
J15 to J16	110,316	74,612	17,238	9.4
JJ4 slips to JM6 Toll	103,234	69,034	14,573	1.2
J1 to J2	99,800	65,158	19,171	8.6
J10A to J11	96,137	61,076	17,580	2.1
J29A to J30	86,780	60,853	9,169	1.4
J34 western spur to J35	85,273	63,716	7,176	3.7
J11 to J11a	84,574	49,343	17,826	1.1
J33 to J34 eastern spur	82,790	59,362	9,003	5.8
J4 to JM42	78,075	50,519	12,334	0.4
J32 to J33	77,610	55,597	8,813	12.8
J40 to J41	65,722	46,420	8,806	3.1
J29 to J29A	65,065	44,167	7,366	0.4
J43 to J44	53,813	36,013	8,898	3.8
J38 to J39	52,401	37,770	6,057	5.7
J42 to J43	51,683	32,593	9,376	2.7
J44 to JA74(M) / 45	48,771	34,429	6,724	5.9
J36 to J37	46,025	31,693	6,174	7.8
J15 to JA500	45,793	33,197	4,234	0.1
J37 to J38	43,802	28,370	6,531	8.8
J39 to J40	39,666	25,563	6,550	11.2
JM58 to JM6	25,434	18,438	2,352	0.3
J25 to JA49	23,664	17,275	1,842	0.9
JA47 to J5	23,042	15,718	2,882	0.4
JA6 to J33	22,158	16,901	1,244	0.4
J38 to JA685	9,147	6,498	702	0.3

This table lists the stretches that run between identifiable junctions. The full Department for Transport dataset contains 99 count points for the M6, including short link sections at local authority boundaries and on slip roads, which are not listed separately here.

Traffic count figures on this page are from the Department for Transport road traffic statistics, 2025. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.