Highways Agency urges last submissions on M54-M6 link before consultation ends

DRIVERS have until the end of this week to choose their preferred route for the proposed new link road between the M54 and the northbound carriageway of the M6.

Ahead of the final decision, the Highways Agency has put three options on the table for a public consultation, which ends on January 30.

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

Option B (pictured) 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.

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

The junction is a congestion bottleneck as traffic filters off the M54 but while reliving local problems, the new road would have an added benefit of siphoning traffic more effectively onto the M6 Toll.

Operators of the pay-to-drive motorway have long campaigned for a free link between the M54 and M6 Toll in the hope it would encourage more traffic to use the 27-mile route.

The Highways Agency said it wanted to know people’s views before a decision was made on the route. It has made available an online questionnaire which people should complete.

You can request a printed copy of the questionnaire from the Highways Information Line on 0300 123 5000 or by email ha_info@highways.gsi.gov.uk

Written submissions can be made to the Project Team at:

Highways Agency
The Cube
199 Wharfside Street
Birmingham
B1 1RN

Or by email: M54toM6/M6tolllinkroad@highways.gsi.gov.uk

Once the results of the consultation exercise are known, the agency said it anticipated that the preferred route would be identified and announced in early 2015.

The public consultation details are also available on the GOV.UK website.