M54 and M6 link up route could be announced soon

Feedback on the three different options for the new road, which will also link to the M6 Toll, has now been gathered and technical assessments are now taking place before an announcement is made on the one to take forward.

A statement from the Department of Transport said: "We've gathered feedback on our three proposed route options.

"In light of the feedback received we now need to combine this with further technical assessment to help us identify the route that provides the best overall solution for the scheme.

"Once we have completed our further assessment works we will make an announcement about the preferred route.

"We hope to make this shortly.

"We will publish a public consultation report at the same time, which will outline the feedback together with a scheme assessment report which will explain the factors that determined the choice of the preferred route.

"During the next stage of the project our team will work up the design of the preferred route in more detail.

"The preliminary design will include details on the proposed junctions, landscaping and bridges.

"We will hold further consultation as the design progresses to get feedback to help refine the developing design.

"We will be engaging the local authority to help shape the consultation so that local people get to have their say."

Of the three choices, Option A is the cheapest, while B comes in with the biggest bill.

Option A would put a 1.5 mile link road between the M54 junction 1 Featherstone and M6 junction 11 Cannock/Wolverhampton, bypassing the villages of Featherstone and Shareshill, and be sited to the west of Hilton Hall.

On the west side of the M6 there would be no access from the existing A460 to M6 junction 11.

This arm of junction 11 would be used for the new road and move through-traffic on to the link road.

There would be a single junction on the new road to allow local traffic to access the link road from this section of the A460 via Hilton Lane.

Option B would provide a new road between M54 Junction 1 and the M6 and M6 Toll, which would then link directly with the M6, north of junction 11 and with the M6 Toll at junction T8.

The link would follow the same route as Option A, bypassing the villages of Featherstone and Shareshill, and be sited to the west of Hilton Hall.

The additional link would take the roads total length to approximately 2.2 miles.

M6 junction 11 would be unchanged by this option with local access to the M6 and M6 Toll remaining the same.

It is also believed that Options A and B would prove slightly faster routes for motorists to take than the third choice available.

Option C would widen the M54 from Junction 1 to the M6, providing extra capacity through one additional traffic lane in each direction.

New slip roads would be constructed at M6 junction 10a for Wolverhampton and Telford M54 to provide links to and from the M6 north and the A460 would cross the M6 on a new bridge, linking in to the A462 and Wolverhampton Road, with a new local road provided to Saredon Road for local destinations north or east.

The existing hard shoulder would be converted to a fourth traffic lane between M6 junction 10a and 11.

Access roads to Hilton Park Services would be modified as part of the scheme, with access to the services maintained throughout construction.

M6 junction 11 would be demolished and replaced by a new junction 11 further north, linking to the M6 Toll junction T8.

The distance between M54 junction 1 and M6 Toll junction T8 would come to 3.4 miles.

It comes as transport chiefs said £600 million worth of motorway projects were making "real progress".

Jim O'Sullivan, chief executive of Highways England, said five major projects – including the improvement of junction 10 of the M6 between Wolverhampton and Walsall – would bring more jobs and boost the region's economy.