M54 motorway

The M54 is a 37-kilometre motorway running east-west through Staffordshire and Shropshire. It links the M6 near Essington with the A5 at Wellington, following the line of the Roman Watling Street and the A5 towards North Wales. Most of the route is a two-lane dual carriageway, with short three-lane sections. It was built to ease heavy traffic on the A5 and to serve the new town later named Telford. In 2007 the motorway carried between 41,800 and 50,300 vehicles each day. The road was planned in the 1960s to connect the proposed Dawley New Town with Wolverhampton and the M6. Freeman Fox and Wilbur Smith Associates forecast 75,000 vehicles a day by 1990 and recommended a dual three-lane motorway. Construction began in 1973 with the Wellington bypass, built by M. J. Gleeson. Problems soon appeared: the concrete carriageway broke up on a poor subbase and had to be rebuilt in asphalt over 15 years. Contractors included A Monk & Co., R M Douglas Construction and Tarmac, each completing sections under Sir Owen Williams and Partners. The motorway passes south of Featherstone, north of Bushbury and through the centre of Telford. Man-made hills and 250,000 trees were planted to screen the route and reduce noise. The Forge junction at Telford Town Centre helped spur development of the shopping centre and central business area. The motorway’s arrival coincided with a fall in local unemployment from over 20% in the mid-1980s to 3.3% by 2004. Today it carries holiday traffic to Shrewsbury Flower Show and once carried festival-goers to Weston-under-Lizard.