New M4

The New M4 (sometimes known as the M4 Toll Motorway) was a proposed motorway south of Newport, South Wales, which would have been the United Kingdom's second full toll-paying motorway. The plans were dropped by the Welsh Assembly Government in July 2009.

Background

The existing M4 motorway runs through the Brynglas Tunnels north of Newport city centre.^[1] The existing road does not conform to current motorway standards: it lacks continuous hard shoulders, has closely spaced junctions and narrows to a restricted two-lane section through the Brynglas Tunnels, where heavy congestion occurs at peak hours. Traffic data shows that the motorway is already approaching, and at times exceeds capacity; forecasts show that if nothing is done these problems will only increase.^[2]

A second motorway was proposed to the south of Newport, running for 14 miles (23 km) parallel to the existing motorway from junction 23A at Magor, to junction 29 at Castleton, avoiding the need to widen the tunnels.^[3] The concept behind the motorway was based on the M6 Toll, a similar relief road built to reduce traffic on the M6 motorway around Birmingham.^[1]

History

An M4 relief road between Magor and Castleton was first proposed by the Welsh Office in 1991, but there was little progress on the scheme in the following years.^[4] Plans for the New M4 were announced on 3 March 2006 as part of a raft of measures to improve road transport in Wales. The road would have cost between GB£350 million and 1000 million, and been financed by a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) with the Welsh Assembly.^[5] It was planned to be the United Kingdom's second full toll-paying motorway, after the M6 Toll.

On 15 July 2009, Wales' Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones announced that the plans for the New M4 were to be dropped and replaced by a package of measures to improve the flow of traffic on the M4 motorway in south-east Wales.^[6] In November 2009, Dr. Anthony Beresford of the Business School at Cardiff University called for the decision to cancel the road to be overturned.^[7]

Controversy

The proposed road received criticism from many groups, with concerns ranging from environmental issues, through cost, to long-term effects on traffic patterns.

Friends of the Earth claimed that the road would have caused great damage to local wildlife habitats as it was planned to pass through the Caldicot and Wentloog Levels, an area of natural wetlands. They also raised concerns about the large sum of public money that would have been used to fund the project, claiming that it could be better spent improving the local railway network.^[1]

The Campaign Against the Levels Motorway (CALM) claimed that the proposed motorway would ruin a historic landscape and increase carbon emissions.^[8]

Several other experts suggested that a new toll road would be "a white elephant for 20 hours a day", due to the greatly variable traffic levels through the Brynglas Tunnels. Outside peak hours, the tunnels would still have been the preferable option to taking a toll road for most people.^[1]

Liberal Democrat spokesperson Jenny Randerson raised concerns about whether a toll would have been necessary on the road, as the Severn Bridge, less than 10 miles (16 km) to the east, also charges a toll to cross it. Randerson compared the plan to a "double tax on Wales", claiming that the toll would discourage people from visiting Wales, saying "paying twice to get in will encourage no-one to come across the Severn Bridge, either for business or for pleasure", while the Road Haulage Association said that an additional toll was "almost rubbing salt into the wound".^[1] Lately,^[when?] there have also been further developments on introducing a congestion charge in central Cardiff, meaning that if the New M4 was built many drivers could have ended up paying three times in the space of less than 30 miles (48 km) from the Severn Crossings into Cardiff.

Concerns were also raised about the risk of accidents on the road; cars on the M6 Toll, due to its new and clear carriageways, have an average speed of 79 miles per hour (127 km/h), rising to 88 miles per hour (142 km/h) at night, well above the British national speed limit of 70 miles per hour (113 km/h).^{[citation needed]} As a result, the M4 Toll was compared to a potential theme park with drivers paying "their money and therefore [expecting] to be able to enjoy the thrill of the ride. It's almost as if they're paying to use a racetrack" said Conrad King, a motoring psychologist.^[9]

See also

• M4

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} M4 Relief road plan unveiled, BBC News, 7 December 2004
2. ^ Welsh Assembly Government | New M4 Project: Magor to Castleton
3. ^ "New M4". Welsh Assembly Government. http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/transport/roads/NewRoads2/M4/?lang=en. Retrieved 2008-09-20. 
4. ^ South Wales Argus M4 RELIEF ROAD: Timeline
5. ^ CBRD M4 Toll Feature. Retrieved 3 August 2006.
6. ^ BBC NEWS | Wales | M4 and airport road plans dropped
7. ^ 'Don't scrap M4 relief road' call, BBC News, 24 November 2009. Accessed 24 November 2009
8. ^ "CALM Home Page". Campaign Against the Levels Motorway. http://www.savethelevels.org.uk/. 
9. ^ "'Racetrack' fear for new M4 toll section as speeds soar", Western Mail 4 January 2005.

External links

• Map of the proposed motorwayPDF (5.72 MB)