Resurfacing work delayed to reduce Severn Bridge disruption

Twm Owen, local democracy reporter

Resurfacing work on the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge will be delayed as part of measures to reduce disruption from a new weight restriction on the first crossing.

The original M48 Severn Bridge will be closed to heavy goods vehicles over 7.5 tonnes from Tuesday, May 27 as operators National Highways aim to reduce weight on the bridge due to weakening cables.

However during planned closures of the M4 bridge National Highways has said it will allow lorries over 7.5 tonnes to cross the M48 bridge at Chepstow.

Officials from the UK Government owned company answered questions from Monmouthshire county councillors at a special meeting of its public services scrutiny committee on Monday, May 12.

Compensation

But the body ruled out financial compensation for firms impacted by the weight restriction though support for resurfacing roads on the Welsh side of the bridge impacted by higher traffic volumes could be considered.

National Highways manager Ian Thompson told councillors the body hadn’t consulted on the restriction, which was announced on April 11 as it was a decision made on safety grounds.

He said: “Is the bridge safe to operate? Yes it is but if we don’t reduce the weight and load we will see further deterioration and weakening of the structure.

“We made an operational safety decision and because it was a safety decision it was not negotiable.”

Jonathan Hill, National Highways’ route manager, said the weight restriction, expected to be in place for 12 to 18 months is a short term measure. The medium term plan is to manage vehicles over 7.5 tonnes to allow them to cross the bridge and the longer term solution to strengthen the bridge’s suspension cables could cost between £300 million to £600m and take five years or more.

Spending review

Both managers stressed funding for “groundbreaking” longer-term engineering solution will be dependent on the outcome of the UK Government’s spending review, which is due to be held this summer.

Mitigations to reduce the impact of the closure to heavy goods vehicles include postponing resurfacing works on east bound lanes, going out of Wales, on the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge to a date yet to be decided.

Mr Hill said the bridge has been restored to three lanes at 70 miles per hour.

Regular inspections of the surface of the M4 bridge will be made and Mr Thompson said: “We’re not delaying, it forgetting about it and hoping for the best it will be closely monitored and we will need to do some patching work, hopefully overnight, to ensure the integrity and safety of the road surface.”

Asked about contingencies, when the Prince of Wales Bridge is closed, Mr Thompson said during planned closures it will be possible for HGVs to use the M48 bridge. “We will operate a system to allow HGVs over 7.5 tonnes over the M48 in a controlled way, mainly overnight.”

Managing the crossings will, Mr Thompson said, be “resource intensive with boots on the ground.”

M50 detour

During unplanned closures those vehicles will be diverted up to the M50 which has been described as a 100 mile detour.

Police and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency will enforce the weight restriction and will also use ANPR number plate recognition technology.

But councillors were told using the technology to exempt locally-based HGVs isn’t being considered, due to difficulty in determining which locations of firms should be exempt, and were also told implementing the intended medium term managed crossings couldn’t be put in place immediately. A team is planning how that can be done while a procurement process will also be needed and the technology then put in place.

Along with extensive consultation with local authorities and the transport industry National Highways has also held talks with the New House Farm industrial estate, in Chepstow, which is based at the foot of the bridge.

Chepstow Conservative councillor Paul Pavia said it was “only fair” National Highways put some money towards resurfacing the local road network that would come under greater strain from increased traffic.

Mr Thompson replied “We will take that forward for consideration” and added: “I’m not promising any funding I’m not in a position to do that.”

National Highways will share modelling information on the likely impact of traffic on other roads with Monmouthshire County Council and the Welsh Government’s South Wales Trunk Road Agency to manage the impact.

Traffic lights

Councillors suggested traffic lights should be installed at the M4 Junction 23a Magor roundabout, which is managed by Monmouthshire County Council, while the council is still pushing for a Rogiet link road from the M48 which it believes would also reduce traffic on Chepstow’s Highbeech roundabout.

Chepstow Labour councillor Arman Watts, who chaired the meeting, said the weight restriction had “shocked” councillors. He said Monmouthshire had hoped to develop Severnside by “piggybacking” on to the 9,000 jobs across the channel at Avonmouth: “That suddenly disappeared and slipped away from our hands.”

Buses and coaches, recover vehicles and fire engines will still be able to cross the M48 Severn Bridge when the weight restriction is in place.