M54

The M54 is Telford's very own motorway, connecting Shropshire to Wolverhampton and the West Midlands via the M6.

Unfortunately the residents of Shropshire can only visit parts of the wider world that lie to the south as the M6 interchange only has south-facing sliproads and can't be used to get to or from the north. They can't even reach the M6 Toll, a motorway that ends almost head-on with the M54, because there's no direct connection to that either. Proposals for a new road to connect the M54 to the north and east have been drawn up but continue to falter.

Traffic from the M54 is a major contributor to the traffic problems on the M6 within the West Midlands area, since it and the M5 both unburden themselves onto the road, and between their two junctions the M6 is usually unbearably busy.

The M54 was granted a westward extension in the early 1990s, continuing the route all the way to Shrewsbury, though it would be a mistake to think an extension of the same road built to the same standard and heading in the same direction would be part of the M54. Instead, it's part of the A5. Shrewsbury Town Council have declared an interest before now in having that section of the A5 reclassified as M54 so that their town is on the motorway network.

M54 junction 5 moved house not long after the motorway opened, thanks to the rapidly changing structure of Telford as the New Town was built. The current incarnation replaces a limited access half-diamond junction that was located slightly closer towards junction 4. It marked the eastern end of the original three-lane section of M54, and the point is still visible today because the road surface to the west is still wide enough for dual three-lanes. Between there and the new junction 5, the road was painted down to two lanes when the eastward extension was opened with just two lanes.