Re-numbering has taken place along the route since the 1970s. First, The Keyway was opened to the south of Willenhall town centre and became part of the A454, as did Bilston Lane - previously the A463.
In the 1980s, the final stub of the route into Bridgnorth was downgraded to become the B4363 when a by-pass (part of the A458) was opened around the south of the town and a new section of the A454 built meeting the A458 near Stanmore.
Then, in 1995, the Black Country Route was completed between Bilston and Junction 10 of the M6. The final section of this route (which began as the A463) was numbered the A454, which led to Wolverhampton Road West on the Willenhall-Walsall border being downgraded to a B-road, as had happened to the rest of the original A454 through Willenhall when The Keyway was opened some 20 years previously.[2]
