Funding for motorway link road welcomed

The decision to include a long-awaited £200m motorway link road in the government's latest infrastructure spending plan has been welcomed by a local authority.

Last July, the link between the M54 and M6 motorways was one of 50 schemes given government backing.

It was included last week in the government's £27bn national road investment strategy.

Lee Carter, the leader of Telford and Wrekin Council, said it was "fantastic news" for Telford, "one of the fastest-growing towns in the Midlands".

The £200m two-mile (3.2km) stretch of road will connect the M6 at Laney Green in Staffordshire with Junction 1 of the M54 at Featherstone, near Wolverhampton.

Telford and Wrekin Council said it was expected to take up to 19,000 vehicles a day off local roads, cut journey times and generate more than £600m for the local economy.

Carter said the route, which is expected to be open to traffic within the next five years, would strengthen Telford's links with the wider region.

He added it was "of vital importance to the prosperity and connectivity of our borough".

Councillors and MPs have previously lobbied for the bypass, saying it could benefit Wolverhampton, Shropshire, Staffordshire and the Black Country.

There is currently no direct motorway link allowing drivers using the M54 to get onto the northbound carriage of the M6, meaning they must use roads such as the A460.

This has led to high volumes of both long-distance and local traffic using roads through Staffordshire villages including Featherstone, Hilton and Shareshill.

National Highways said the road was not designed for the amount and type of traffic currently using it, and this had led to delays, congestion and high accident rates.

There were also air quality issues in villages along the A460 due to the high volume of traffic, they said.

Since the announcement last summer that the government would back the link road project, Telford and Wrekin Council said survey work had been carried out along the preferred route.

Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.