Star comment: M54 trouble originated from onset
Even when the M54 opened over 30 years ago the arrangements for traffic heading north were odd.
The explanation at the time was that surveys showed that most M54 traffic would be heading onto the southbound M6.
The result of that failure of longer-term planning is that while it is a piece of cake to join the M6 heading south, getting onto the northbound M6 or M6 Toll is fiddly, time consuming and illogical, taking motorists off the motorway network and pitching them onto local A roads.
It is in truth a bit of a mess, so much so that some northbound motorists think they are no worse off using the old A5, the ancient road which the M54 was supposed to relieve of traffic.
Of course the problems are just the same for traffic heading south on the M6 which wants to come off and join the M54.
Putting right this historic wrong is going to be expensive.
This is one of those hidden ways in which public money disappears down the drain – through saving money at the time by using an inferior solution which will have to be addressed in the future at many times the cost of having the proper solution in place from the outset.
A survey in 2015 showed that 87 per cent of members of the public agreed a link road is needed.
We are where we are, and Highways England has consulted on three potential remedies, and as a result of that exercise, has tailored them to reflect the feedback.
So now there is going to be consultation on the three modified options. The area of the action, whatever it may be, is in Staffordshire, but of course the outcome is going to be crucial for Shropshire, with the M54 being the major road transport artery to and from the county.
According to Highways England, the proposed link road could remove the vast majority – around 22,000 vehicles a day out of a total of 26,500 vehicles a day – from the A460, which runs through Featherstone and Shareshill.
It will, it says, also support local economic growth in Telford and Shrewsbury.
So from all aspects the new link road makes sense, and it has been a long time coming. In making the choice between the options, a saying comes to mind - if you are going to do a job, you may as well do it well.Whatever is decided, let it be something that stands the test of time, rather than a cut-price botched remedy which needs correcting later.
