MOTORISTS face misery as a stretch of the M40 will see a 50mph speed restriction and overnight closures for four months.

Highways England revealed yesterday it would be carrying out resurfacing work on the 10-mile stretch between junction 6 for Lewknor and junction 8 for Wheatley.

Contractors will be resurfacing the carriageway across all three lanes in both directions, using slip road and lane closures in place from 10pm to 6am.

There will also be a 50mph speed limit with camera enforcement throughout the duration of the works, with preparation starting on Monday, August 15, when cameras will be installed.

The main work will start on September 8 when the M40 northbound will be fully closed overnight to install the lane closures.

Once the whole project is finished traffic sensors will be installed in the road surface to help monitor traffic flows.

Highways England said this cannot be done while the new surface is laid and will require extra overnight lane closures for about four weeks after the main work is complete.

Project manager Michael Freeman said: "This major resurfacing work will improve people's journeys along the M40 by providing them with a better driving experience and it means we won't need to return to this section of the road for major repairs for a long time.

"Not only will we be resurfacing the road, but we’ll be using low noise surfacing to minimise the impact of the noise nearby."