The Plaid Cymru Welsh Government has restarted development of a third road bridge over the Menai Strait and announced a study of options to relieve the M4 around Newport.

Shorter-term measures to improve resilience will include provision of better HGV rest facilities along the A465 Heads of the Valleys road to encourage more freight to divert off the M4 in South Wales. Last year, the government completed the long and sometimes troubled programme of dualling the A465.

Full or partial closures of some Newport M4 junctions are also proposed within two years. The city council objects, amid concerns over displaced traffic.

The proposed new A55 bridge over the Menai is expected to cost more than £600m and take up to 10 years to deliver, to make journeys between the mainland and Anglesey faster and more reliable. All funding options, including tolls, will be explored during three to five years of scheme development.

In the meantime, the government promises ‘practical resilience measures' on the A55 Britannia Bridge, including wind deflectors to reduce bridge closures during gales. Inserting a third lane on the wide road deck has been ruled out on safety grounds.

The Labour Welsh Government cancelled its planned M4 Relief Road south of Newport in 2019 because of the estimated £1.5bn cost and environmental issues. This is the only proposal the Plaid Cymru administration will exclude from its 18-month study of options, several of which are estimated to cost more than £1.5bn. Widening the two-lane Brynglas Tunnels will be considered, despite the estimated £1.7bn cost and ‘high engineering/geotechnical risk' identified in a new options review by Arup.

An alternative package of works to increase capacity on the A48 and A4810 Llanwern steelworks access road is estimated to cost £1.8bn.

The Welsh Government is urging the UK Government to bring forward funding for new local stations on the non-devolved railway between the Severn Tunnel and Cardiff. The stations are forecast to reduce peak traffic on the M4 at Newport by about 6%. A further 2% reduction could come from a proposed £335m segregated Bus Rapid Transit route between Newport and Cardiff.