Rugby Roadworks This Week: M6 J2 to J1 Shut and Rail Buses

Checked 6 October 2026. The motorway picture around Rugby this week is a run of night closures at the M6 end of town, and the railway loses its Trent Valley service on the next two weekends.

• the M6 southbound between junctions 2 and 1 is closed on the nights of Thursday 8 and Friday 9 October, 21:00 to 06:00
• the M6 to M1 southbound link road at Catthorpe is closed every night to Friday 9 October, 20:00 to 06:00
• no trains run between Rugby and Stafford via Nuneaton on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October or Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October; rail replacement buses serve the Trent Valley stations

Motorways and trunk roads this week

National Highways’ seven-day closure report was last updated at 15:33 on 5 October and covers Monday 5 to Sunday 11 October. Every closure below is overnight.

• M6 southbound, junction 2 to junction 1: carriageway closed 21:00 to 06:00 on the nights starting Thursday 8 and Friday 9 October, for maintenance. That is the stretch from the M69 and Coventry to the Rugby junction.
• M6 to M1 southbound link road, part of the M6 junction 1 to M1 junction 19 works: closed 20:00 to 06:00 on the nights starting 6, 7, 8 and 9 October, with slip road and lane closures for maintenance.
• M6 northbound, junction 2 to junction 4: carriageway closed 21:00 to 06:00 on the nights starting 6 and 7 October. The M69 southbound link from junction 1 to the M6 at junction 2 is shut on the same two nights.
• A46, Coventry eastern bypass: northbound between the Binley junction and M69 junction 2 is closed 20:00 to 06:00 on the nights starting 7, 8 and 9 October, and the Binley entry slip roads are shut in both directions from the night of 6 October to the night of 9 October. Southbound between M69 junction 2 and Walsgrave is then closed 20:00 to 06:00 on the nights starting Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October.
• A5 at Hinckley, Nutts Lane roundabout to Dodwells roundabout: closed in both directions 20:00 to 06:00 on the night of Wednesday 7 October. The wider scheme, from the M69 roundabout to Dodwells, also has narrow lanes and a lower speed limit around the clock while the carriageway is rebuilt.

The A5 night closure between Kilsby and Halfway House was on Monday 5 October only and is not listed again. Nothing is listed on the M45 or on the M1 between junctions 17 and 20 this week. The report does not reach beyond 11 October, so anything later is not yet published.

Trains: two weekends with no service via Nuneaton

Network Rail’s notice of 15 September says no trains will run between Stafford and Rugby via Nuneaton on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October or Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October, while it renews track. Trent Valley stations between Rugby and Stafford get rail replacement buses. Avanti West Coast diverts trains via the West Midlands, and London Northwestern passengers are told to use other services between Stafford and Crewe.

If you are going to Nuneaton, Atherstone, Tamworth or Lichfield Trent Valley from Rugby on either weekend, plan on the bus. Network Rail’s notice does not list Rugby to London or Rugby to Birmingham New Street via Coventry as closed.

What we could not confirm today. London Northwestern Railway’s service alteration pages refused our requests on 6 October, so the operator-level detail is unchecked this visit: which LNR trains turn back at Rugby, whether Avanti tickets are accepted on the buses, the retimed Rugby to Nuneaton trains on Sunday 25 October, and late night changes on the Euston to Northampton line later in the month. Check LNR’s own notice for 10 and 11 October, its notice for 17 and 18 October and its alterations calendar before you travel.

The A426: due to have finished on 5 October

The night resurfacing of the A426 Leicester Road, southbound between the M6 junction 1 roundabout and the Tesco roundabout at Junction One Retail Park, was due to end on Monday 5 October. On 6 October the county’s scheme notice still gives 21 September to 5 October as the “anticipated” dates and has not been marked finished or extended, and its Rugby works programme still shows the four phase dates, SMU/0502 to SMU/0505, rather than “Completed”. We cannot confirm from the county that the road is fully back to normal, so if you use it late at night, check the roadworks map first.

Local roads

B4455 Fosse Way, Hunningham and Eathorpe, which the county files under Rugby borough: closed weeknights only, 20:00 to 06:00, from 2 October with an anticipated finish of 13 October. The site notice, dated 18 September, closes the road between its junctions with Long Itchington Road and Barn Lane. The signed diversion is the A423, A425 and B4455, and a temporary 40mph limit applies in the daytime from Long Itchington Road to the Princethorpe village sign. Balfour Beatty is doing the resurfacing.

Inside the town, the county’s programme, re-read on 6 October, has no resurfacing scheme dated between the A426 and the Millfields Avenue footway on 19 October. Utility works, such as gas, water and telecoms, are not on that programme. They are on the county’s roadworks map.

What is programmed after that

From the county council’s Rugby borough programmes for carriageway, footway and minor carriageway schemes, checked on 6 October. These are resurfacing schemes with a scheduled date, not utility works.

Manor Drive at Stretton on Dunsmore is still listed with a 23 September date for its carriageway, while its footway scheme is marked complete. Kennedy Road in Bilton, Vicarage Hill at Clifton, Eastlands Place, Coventry Road at Cawston, Castle Mound Way, Rugby Road at Harborough Magna, the Fosseway at Princethorpe and an earlier Leicester Road scheme are all marked complete.

Where to check live

• Warwickshire County Council’s roadworks map at warwickshire.gov.uk/roadworksmap covers borough and county roads, including utility works, with dates and traffic management for each.
• National Highways covers the motorways and trunk roads: the M6, M45, M1 and the A5. Local closures do not appear there and motorway closures do not appear on the county map, so on a bad morning you need both.
• The scheme notices are worth more than the map. Each one carries a site notice and a legal order as separate PDFs, and those routinely give the exact extent and the signed diversion that the summary page leaves out.
• For the trains, London Northwestern Railway’s alterations calendar lists planned changes by date, several weeks out. It is more useful than the National Rail homepage, which only shows today.

The junction the town has been arguing about

The A426/A4071 Avon Mill and Hunters Lane scheme is the one everyone means when they talk about Rugby congestion. The county council’s proposal would enlarge the Avon Mill roundabout, widen every entry to three lanes, replace the Hunters Lane T-junction with a roundabout, link the two with a short dual carriageway and a new bridge over the River Avon, and add a cycle route from the A426 Leicester Road to Wood Street. The stated aim is to stop traffic rat-running through Mill Road tunnel and Murray Road.

Where it has got to is the honest part. The council’s public engagement opened on 8 February 2024 and closed on 20 March 2024. Its published next step was to apply for planning permission, and its published expectation then was that “construction could start by Spring/Summer 2025”, subject to design and funding. That window has passed and we can find no newer date on the council’s own scheme page. The scheme is live, it is not built, and nobody should plan a journey around it yet.

Cameras on two Rugby junctions, consultation open

Warwickshire County Council is asking whether it should enforce moving traffic restrictions with cameras, and two of the six sites it has picked are in Rugby: the yellow box at Clifton Road and Moultrie Road, and the school street at Lansdowne Place by Eastlands Primary School. The engagement runs to 25 October. We have written that up separately on our news pages.

Parking in town, in one line

Rugby Borough Council runs ten town centre car parks and the split is worth £5 a day. John Barford and Westway are £5 for up to eleven hours. Gas Street, Newbold Road, Railway Terrace and Old Market Place are £10 for the same stay. The other four are short stay only, capped at three hours for £1.30.

Every tariff, the Sunday rules, season tickets, station parking, the permit zones and what to do about a ticket are on our parking in Rugby page, which we keep current.

Out of town: the Draycote closure

If your plans include the reservoir, Severn Trent’s closure page, re-checked on 6 October, still says the circular route “is currently closed due to upgrade works happening on the reservoir”. You can walk, run or cycle part of it, but there is no way through the construction area, so it is an out-and-back rather than a loop. Phase 1 runs from Farborough Bank and Toft Bank up to the Memorial Garden; phase 2 from near the Sailing Club along Hensborough, Saddle, Barn and Draycote banks to the Valve Tower. All construction on the dams is “expected to be finished by late 2026”. No reopening date has been published.

What changes next

Rugby Borough Council’s Cabinet approved a ten-year town centre delivery plan on 3 August 2026, branded Rugby Revitalised. It covers route improvements between the Clock Tower and Old Market Place, a new public event space, and work on St Andrew’s Church and Gardens and the outdoor market. None of that has a start date attached. Expect town centre street works to follow, and expect them to be announced piecemeal.

Separately, the borough’s application to extend the town centre vehicle ban from 11am to 4pm out to 11pm has been with the county council since May with no statutory notice published. That notice, when it comes, is the point at which anyone can object.

For anything happening this week, the county council’s roadworks map remains the only complete source. We check it, the scheme notices behind it, and the borough’s own announcements when we write up disruption on our news pages.