M54 Shrewsbury extension plans gearing up

The Highways Agency has opened up talks to look at the costs of turning the dual carriageway into an extension of the M54.

Government minister Robert Goodwill today confirmed the agency has almost completed work to look at how expensive the reclassification of the road would be.

It comes after he met with Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski, who is among those to have campaigned to reclassify the route.

Business leaders say it is important to the profile of Shropshire that its county town is linked to Britain's motorway network.

It, and a direct rail link between the county and London, are seen as essential to improving Shropshire's transport links.

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Mr Goodwill said the extension of the M54 is now on the agenda, with the study on costs almost complete.

But the junior transport minister added: "Identifying and evaluating the resulting benefits is proving more problematic. Further assessment will be necessary before a robust cost-benefit analysis can be completed."

Tony Bywater, whose caravan dealership Salop Leisure is at Emstrey, around two miles from where the motorway would end at Preston Boats roundabout, said the move would be straightforward because of the quality of the road, despite its lack of a hard shoulder.

"It has always been my wish to see the M54 extended to Shrewsbury to put the town on the UK motorway network map," said Mr Bywater.

"All that is needed is a change of designation of the existing road.

"It would be of great benefit to Shrewsbury's businesses to say that the town is connected to the national motorway network.

"Major roadworks are currently planned at roundabouts on Shrewsbury bypass to improve traffic flow and I think the M54 extension should be implemented at the same time."

Currently the dual carriageway continues to Shrewsbury when the M54 ends at junction seven at Wellington, at which point the road becomes the A5.

The road surface and speed limits are the same as the motorway section, and Mr Bywater believes the road is effectively motorway-standard all the way to the Shrewsbury bypass.

Mr Kawczynski added: "Having the national motorway network lead right up to Shrewsbury would encourage more firms to move to the area, creating jobs and growth.

"I wholeheartedly support the idea and have been making representations to Ministers regarding the change."

Motorway upgrade will drive home message town is 10 miles down road:

Turning the A5 into the M54 really matters. Business Editor Thom Kennedy explains why

Shrewsbury is not out on a limb. It is not some far-flung, remote corner of the UK. It is not hours away from the region's manufacturing heartlands, and it is not accessible only by pony and trap.

No, Shropshire's county town is a national treasure, a holiday hotspot and a great place to live and work if you like to combine easy living with hard graft and entrepreneurial spirit.

But to look at a map of the UK's motorways, those asphalt arteries that draw blood around the economy, you might be fooled into thinking that Shrewsbury is near enough inaccessible unless you're with a Sherpa.

In reality, all that distinguishes the main road into town from the remainder of the country's motorway network is the colour of its signs. As soon as you pass Junction 7, where a red cross slashes through a motorway sign, you're into the great outdoors. You're off the grid. You've left behind the "proper" roads and are onto the dusty tracks. That sign might as well say "here be bandits" as "motorway ends".

There's a psychological block standing in the way of business in Shropshire, the county's detachment from the big-bucks budgets of the West Midlands economy made real by the dangling cord that is the M54.

The change from the blue motorways to the green of the A-roads represents the county's trade isolation. So to upgrade the motorway could be a fillip for bringing inward investment into the county, convincing overseas companies that we are open for business and we are easy to get to.

A lot of work has gone into upgrading our transport infrastructure of late, from the exhaustive campaign to restore a direct rail link to London through to the increasingly loud calls for a better route between the M54 and the M6 and M6 Toll.

This week, we heard about the latest investment programme going into roads in Telford and Shrewsbury through the Government's Growth Deals programme.

On our own doorstep, work is being done to ensure that we have it in our power to welcome businesses. But part of that process is to convince them that arriving in the heart of the county takes little more than 10 miles' drive down a dual carriageway.