Residents and politicians in Newport have reacted with fury to proposals to close junctions on the M4 to speed up the motorway, fearing the city will become even more congested.
The plans, detailed in a report by consultants Arup on Tuesday, would take local traffic off the motorway. One resident called the plan a "terrible move" whilst others said traffic levels are already bad in the area, pointing to recent roadworks which caused "chaos".
Residents fear more congestion
Jude Taylor-Bryant, 21, said: "It's bad enough going along... from Bristol all the way past Brynglas Tunnels. So it's not going to ease congestion at all.
"I regularly travel, not commuting but for leisure purposes, and even though I am not there in the rush hours it is still pretty busy."
Jude, who works for a local business, also said he expected the closure to increase traffic along High Cross Road, where he said congestion was already an issue because of schools and commuters travelling into and out of Newport.
Other plans being looked at by the Welsh Government include widening the Brynglas Tunnels, improving sections of the A48 Southern Distributor Road and A4810 Steelworks Access Road, and introducing targeted improvements to the A48.
The proposal to close junctions would involve the full closure of M4 Junction 27 at High Cross and the closure of east-facing slips at Junction 25 at Caerleon and Junction 26 at Malpas.
Concerns over property values and alternatives
Helen Williams-Lear, 62, who regularly travels between Newport and Bristol to visit her daughter, said she was concerned the proposals would simply "shift" traffic elsewhere. She said she regularly gets caught in congestion around the Brynglas Tunnels, with journeys that should take around 45 minutes sometimes taking an hour and a half or longer.
"I think, just my personal opinion, is to just widen the Brynglas Tunnels and have three lanes there," she said. Helen said she frequently uses alternative routes when traffic builds up on the M4, including coming off at Junction 24 and travelling through Newport.
Helen also raised concerns about the potential impact on property prices, saying she believed the closure could make it harder for her daughter to sell her home.
"I actually think it will devalue property... it is my daughter's first property and she lives near junction 27. I think that if people have to go all the way up to junction 28 or go all the way through town to get to where they would like to go, that is going to reduce the value of her property."
In terms of its M4 proposals, the Plaid administration said it will order an £18m review to look at the options put forward. Alongside that is a five year plan to make more short to medium term improvements.
In his announcement on Tuesday, transport minister Mark Hooper said an 18 month review will be carried out on the options put forward by the Welsh Government, which will look at the advantages, disadvantages, costs and timescales of each proposal.
Mixed views on business impact and public transport
Steve Thomas, 67, said of the proposed closure of junctions: "It's going to cause more congestion in Newport city centre than I would have thought." However, he pointed out that the closure could potentially benefit some businesses in the city centre because drivers who would previously bypass Newport could instead be forced to travel through it.
Steve, who is retired and now uses the junction less frequently, said the motorway was already busy around the junctions and suggested better public transport could help reduce the number of cars on the road.
"Get people on the buses, get people on the trains, get them out of their cars," he said, suggesting free or cheaper public transport as a possible solution.
The proposed junction closures would cost £14m and result in a 3% reduction of traffic around Newport on the M4, according to the report on options for the motorway. It also argues that reducing the opportunity for local traffic to join and/or leave the motorway would help reduce potential delays caused by merging, diverging and weaving at the closely spaced junctions.
However, residents were less optimistic about the potential impacts of the plan. Paul Dando, 72, said he feared the proposals would simply move congestion from one location to another.
"So, it's just going to cause more and more traffic jams, all they ever seem to do is move traffic jams from one place to another," he said. Paul said he believed the Brynglas Tunnels were at the heart of the problem, particularly where the motorway changes between three and two lanes. He said that the proposal to widen the tunnels is an ideal solution to tackle congestion and described the current layout as "short-sighted".
Political and air quality concerns
Politicians have echoed the concerns of residents, with Conservative Senedd Member for Casnewydd Islwyn, Natasha Asghar, saying that closing the junctions will "simply move congestion around and clog up A roads and other streets". The politician has urged the Welsh Government to publish its modelling and explain how it consulted relevant parties on its proposals.
Labour Senedd Member for Newport West, Jayne Bryant, called it "astounding" that junction closures were being considered and that the people of Newport "are not to blame for congestion on the M4". She added that whenever there is a crash or major event, "traffic shifts onto local roads, grinding Newport to a halt" and that closing junctions could increase pollution near homes and schools.
The issue of air pollution in Newport caused by M4 traffic has been a concern for many years. There are as many as 11 Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) in Newport. These are areas of monitoring brought in for local authorities to regularly check air quality where pollution has reached dangerous levels. The 11 AQMAs that Newport has is more than any other city in Wales. Cardiff has four AQMAs and Swansea has one.
Judith Hill, 73, who has lived on High Cross Road for 35 years, described the proposed closure of junctions in Newport as a "terrible move". "There'll be more traffic in Newport, everywhere in Newport," she said. Judith expressed her concerns of needing to travel towards Junction 28, which is already busy, to access the motorway.
She said traffic on High Cross Road had been "horrendous" during the 35 years she had lived there and warned that the closure could make the situation even worse. Judith also raised concerns about heavy vehicles using roads where weight restrictions are in place and said she did not believe directing traffic towards the Heads of the Valleys Road would be a practical alternative for people trying to travel west.
"People are not going to bring business to Newport, because it's going to be difficult to get in," she said.
Steve Jones, 65, who volunteers near Junction 27 and High Cross Road, said he regularly uses the junction. He added: "I would be concerned, it's going to be a long way around, otherwise." Steve said he had already seen how road closures could affect traffic after recent roadworks in Newport, which he said caused "chaos". He added: "There's more traffic on the roads now than ever, because [there are] more cars on the road than ever. They just need to look at relief roads, maybe."
