Bridge could lose m-way status
THE Severn Bridge could be stripped of its motorway status as part of plans to ease traffic pressures on other parts of the road network.
The towering structure, once an icon of post-war progress, lost most of its traffic in 1996 with the opening of the Second Severn Crossing further down the estuary.
The M4 was diverted to the new bridge and the road over the old one became the M48.
Now Welsh Government officials are considering whether it would be more appropriate for the M48 to be classed as a humble A road.
The problem is that the M48 no longer pulls its weight – while communities in Monmouthshire are plagued with heavy traffic.
There are no opportunities for vehicles to join or leave the M48 in the eight miles between Chepstow and Magor.
Residents of Caldicot, for example, use local roads for several miles – often with queueing at Chepstow’s High Beech roundabout – to reach the M48 for travel towards Bristol.
To reach Cardiff, they drive through Rogiet, Undy and Magor to access the M4.
Council officers say the singlecarriageway B4252, roughly parallel to the M48, now carries more traffic than the four-lane M48.
Last year the Burns Commission recommended building a new junction on the M48 to provide a rapid bus route to Severn Tunnel Junction station.
A connection to Severn Tunnel Junction from the M48 would also divert some of the station’s parkand-ride car traffic away from nearby villages.
But a new junction built to full motorway standards would be a sledgehammer to crack a nut – costing more and taking up more land than the M48’s traffic would justify.
Changing the M48 to a trunk A road would not diminish the road’s capacity, which is valuable when the Prince of Wales Bridge is disrupted, but would simplify the new junction’s planning and construction.
The Welsh Government is now considering preliminary option studies for reclassifying the M48.
A spokesman said: “Welsh ministers and the Secretary of State would need to agree to revoke the M48 of its motorway regulations for its entire length, given the M48 is in both Wales and England.”
He said it would not be feasible for the M48 to remain a motorway east of Chepstow and become an A road west of the town.
A spokesman for the UK Government’s Department for Transport said: “There are no plans to reclassify the M48, but we will consider any proposals that would improve connectivity, reduce congestion and level up the country.”
The Welsh Government believes the M48 could not become an A road west of Chepstow while remaining a motorway further east.
The Department for Transport’s view is that a road should not change its classification solely because the road crosses the boundary between one jurisdiction and another, but it does not rule out partial reclassification of the M48.
It says that any mid-way change in the road’s classification would need to be at a junction, to enable nonmotorway traffic to leave the road.
The Welsh Government estimates it would take at least six to 12 months for reclassification to come into effect, from the moment the decision was taken.
It has not decided how many new junctions could be built should the M48 be reclassified.
Some residents favour a new junction with the A48 west of Mathern to alleviate congestion at High Beech roundabout, where traffic queuing on the Newport Road approach from the east means part of Chepstow has one of Wales’ worst air quality problems.
Reclassifying the M48 could also help reduce traffic at the M4 bottleneck at Newport.
The Burns Commission said better access to local train services would give residents realistic and attractive alternatives to driving along the motorway, and Severn Tunnel Junction station is one of the principal nodes.
“We believe there is merit in more direct road access for car users from the north, removing the need to join the M4 and then turn back through the village of Magor,” said the commission’s report.
“We recommend Welsh Government should support Monmouthshire Council in developing and constructing a new, direct access junction from the M48 to the station. It should have bus priority and be designed to attract trips to the station rather than new motorway journeys.”
The new junction would also relieve the pressure of car traffic on M4 Junction 23A at Magor. The commission also said the facility could be built by 2025 but warned that this would need swift planning and allocation of funding.