Macquarie Infrastructure Group (MIG), which owns M6 Toll operator Midland Expressway, borrowed huge sums to build the £900 million road but says new arrangments to pay off that debt will “release” £392 million.

More than a quarter of that money – £112 million – will be used to help pay for the proposed link road between the M6 Toll and the M54.

Although revenue figures for the toll road have risen over the past year, this is due to an above-inflation price rise last summer. The number of drivers using the road has continued to fall.

Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander had revealed earlier this summer that MIG would pay the £100 million cost of the new link road – meaning drivers will not have to pay a toll to use it – but the full scale of the refinancing was not revealed until yesterday.

He said: “By using resources released from the M6 Toll’s refinancing, the Highways Agency will be able to speed up the construction of the new link from the M54 to the M6 and M6 Toll. These new improvements will bring real benefits to traffic.”