[3] The motorway forms part of the strategic route to North Wales, roughly following the path of the Roman Watling Street and the A5 north-westwards, towards the port of Holyhead.

[6] The idea of the M54 was originally presented due to the high volumes of traffic on the A5, London to Holyhead road which was largely constructed by civil engineer Thomas Telford in the early 19th century following the route of the Roman Watling Street, which connected Rochester, Kent with Wroxeter, Shropshire.

The initial plan for a motorway following the M54's present route was therefore designed to alleviate the roads which handled the commercial traffic to the port of Holyhead, destined for Ireland.

Additionally, it was proposed that the existing A5 could be upgraded to full dual carriageway grade separated standards together with improvements to the A41 and A464 trunk routes.

The junction precipitated the construction of Telford Shopping Centre, and the central commercial area, as the exchange was upgraded to allow traffic from the motorway to join and exit in both directions.

[9] To help alleviate opposition to the intrusive motorway design, the 60 feet (18 m) wide carriageway was built to pass below the natural landscape, where possible.

Man-made hills were constructed which, along with the planting of 250,000 new trees, helped to camouflage the motorway from view, and cut down on the noise level.

[5] The motorway enabled the development of distribution centres in Telford, and industrial estates such as Hortonwood and Stafford Park have provided employment in the area.

In 2013, the Department for Transport (DfT) investigated the possibility of extending the M54 westward to Shrewsbury, thereby placing the county town on the UK motorway map for the first time.

[16] Plans for a link road between the M54 and the M6 Toll (M6 junction 11a) were supported in principle by the Secretary of State for Transport in 2003[17] and were put on display in 2006 with an expected construction date of 2012.

The £102 million cost for the scheme would be paid for by The Macquarie Infrastructure Group (the company that owns Midland Expressway Ltd and operates the M6 Toll).