 A higher speed limit of was trialled on the southbound carriageway between junctions 4 and 3A from 2008 (a increase on the previous maximum permissible speed).In 2007 plans were announced by the then secretary of state for transport, Ruth Kelly, to extend the scheme to two sections of the M6 motorway near Birmingham (4-5 and 8a-10) by 2011 at a cost of £150 million.The emergency refuges were to be extended to every on the roll out.