A £50m motorway junction that was built in 2019 will finally open later this year.

The 160-mere link road off the M49 between Avonmouth and Severn Beach has been empty and unused ever since – a ghost junction leading nowhere. It’s possibly the smoothest patch of road in Britain, with not a pothole in sight. The link road will finally be completed this autumn, says the Daily Telegraph

The years of delay were because of a deadlock between the landowners, South Gloucestershire Council and National Highways, over who was responsible for the link road leading into the distribution site. It is now understood that National Highways was responsible for the junction, with South Gloucestershire Council responsible for working with the park’s developer to build the link road leading off it.

The motorway – essentially a five-mile slip-road between Avonmouth’s Royal Portbury Docks on the M5 and the Prince of Wales bridge, spanning the Severn Estuary into South Wales – was completed in 1996. Subsequently, on adjacent farmland, a 300-acre distribution site – known as the Western Approach Distribution Park – emerged, comprising industrial warehouses for the likes of Tesco, Amazon and Royal Mail.

Due to the need for heavy HGV access to the site, in 2018 National Highways began constructing a dual-bridge junction off the M49.

But it has been the lorry drivers, behind the wheels of their enormous cargo vehicles, who have suffered the consequences.

For the past seven years, they have been forced to clog up the nearby A403 and other minor roads, their presence causing significant congestion and delaying deliveries.

Peter Tyzack, an alderman and local councillor at Pilning and Severn Beach parish council, and formerly chairman of planning on South Gloucestershire council, says the fiasco was completely avoidable.

“This huge distribution site was built under planning rules from the 1950s,” he says over the phone from his home in nearby Severn Beach.

“But when the M49 junction plan came about, it was clear to elected councillors such as myself that the land the link road would need to go on was not owned by the council or National Highways, and didn’t have planning permission.

“I raised the issue repeatedly at council meetings and got no straight answers. But basically, there was no legal agreement in place for the landowner to give up its land. 

“After the junction was built, it then became clear that the landowner had sold off plots of the land, so the council then had to deal with more than 20 different organisations to secure it. This has taken years to sort out and caused costs to spiral. What a mess.”

News that the junction will finally be opened has come as a welcome relief to truck drivers. Mark Rees, a trucker of nearly 40 years from Coleford, Gloucestershire drivers over the Severn Estuary twice a week he to the industrial park, delivering goods for a local freight company.

“The link road will be a godsend,” he says from his driver’s cab. “At the moment, I can have about an hour’s detour when the traffic is bad.” Tailbacks can be “huge”, he adds. “It is wasting loads of money each time I come.” 

A spokesperson for South Gloucestershire Council said:

“Construction of the link road is underway on site and due to be completed by the end of 2026.”

While a spokesperson for National Highways added:

“South Gloucestershire Council are building the link road after initial plans with developers fell through. We are fully supportive… and recognise the benefits that will bring to the local economy and communities.”

(Picture: Mapillary)