Black Country Route

The Black Country Route is a road in the West Midlands region of England.

Original plans for an urban motorway were drawn up in 1962 to ease congestion in the Black Country towns of Bilston and Willenhall, as well as giving the residents of Dudley, Coseley and Sedgley a more direct link with the new M6 motorway. A town centre by-pass for Bilston, planned to form a spur road to the main route, was given the go-ahead in 1964. By 1968 work had yet to start on any of the route, but it was appearing on maps as a "proposed motorway" and work was expected to start in the early 1970s. However, none of this happened and within a few years the plans were shelved. However, neighbouring Willenhall did gain a dual carriageway southern by-pass, The Keyway, during the 1970s, which would have linked up to the planned motorway and formed an ideal link road to any further "urban motorway".^{[citation needed]}

However, plans to build the Black Country Route project were revived in the early 1980s, since the congestion in the surrounding area was gradually worsening, and given the go-ahead in 1986. It was necessary to dig up a short section at the end of the existing but unopened continuation of The Keyway which had been built by Walsall Council due to changes to the design of the junction with the Black Country Route.

The route was scheduled to be open to the west of Bilston by the end of the 1980s and fully operational by the early 1990s, although ultimately this would take longer as funding difficulties delayed the construction of the route between Bilston and Walsall.