Yes I’m very familiar with the M54, having watched it being built and using it frequently. I find that it’s not at a standstill for 3 hours every morning, personally, although it does get busy for about 90 minutes on week day mornings, which is when it is best to avoid. You’ll know that the direct link from the M54 to the toll road is currently awaiting a decision on the Development Consent Order, but when that comes work will start almost immediately.
Anyway, back on topic ...
Yes, I agree that perhaps we shouldn't digress too much. However, I feel inclined to just say that when I worked for Staffordshire County Council in the 1990s, I was actively involved in some of the related work for the M6 Toll design. Way back then there was plenty of talk about building a link from the M54 to the M6 Toll, and plenty of options were under active consideration. The point is, don't hold your breath for it now, this was well before even HS2 was any more than a pipe dream, and look how long that's taken.
Out of interest (albeit digressing again) when I visited Shanghai's Maglev track in 2005, this technology was actively being considered for their Shanghai to Beijing route (and possibly others), since it was already running to Shanghai Pudong airport. However, the developers of this Maglev system (Transrapid) had a serious (fatal) accident at their test track in Germany in 2006 which led, or at least contributed to Maglev losing out to conventional rail. The point here, is that construction then began in 2008, with the whole route of over 800 miles opening to passengers in 2011. Okay, the Chinese have many practices that we may not condone, but compare the speed of their developments to that of HS2, and then realise that the M54 to M6 Toll link is even slower than that!