Plans for a new £135.7million M4 relief road in Newport, which would relieve traffic on a major motorway, could be revived. The plan was abandoned in 2019 because of cost and impact on the environment after £43.1m of taxpayers’ cash had already been spent on it, reports The Daily Express. Then in 2023, Wales’ Labour government announced it was scrapping all of its major road projects due to environmental concerns.
But now Wales’ new transport secretary Ken Skates said schemes to relieve traffic on the country’s main roads, including a third Menai crossing, could be considered.
However, despite the change of opinion on new roads, Mr Skates said he did not believe Wales could afford to complete the M4 relief road, but said he was “very open” to discussions with the UK government over funding.
He told BBC Radio Wales: “I just can’t see that happening. The cost would just be astronomical.
“Given where we are with the economy, that road scheme would be far in excess of the estimates back when it was proposed, and I just do not see the finance available.”
Other scrapped projects which may be revived include a third crossing of the Menai Strait between Anglesey and the mainland and the controversial “red route” in Flintshire, which would run from Northop in Wales to the border with England.
(Picture – Leighton Collins/Dreamstime)
