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| Why has this short stretch of tarmac caused so many heightened emotions? (Pic : South Wales Evening Post) |
Following yesterday's excitement, it's worth having a more sedate, boring blog today - and that's really saying something coming from me. However, it's an issue that's got people agitated so it's worth taking a
closer look.
And, of course, if the Williams Commission recommendations are enacted in full, Neath Port Talbot (NPT) is going to be more than a neighbour to Bridgend. This blog is unlikely to be around, but with Carwyn Jones holding a double-barrelled shotgun as he leads NPT and Bridgend down the aisle, it's worth paying a bit more attention to what's happening in NPT from a Bridgend perspective.
A controversial decision has been made to trial a partial closure of Junction 41 of the M4 in Port Talbot. Trunk roads – including motorways – are the direct responsibility of the Welsh Government, so the decision rested with the minister in charge of transport, Edwina Hart (Lab, Gower).
I'm sure many of you reading this are familiar with the area.
Junction 41 is split into two halves, all under a blanket 50mph speed limit. The first half to the west consists of two high-quality sliproads which link the M4 with the A48/"Old M4" in Baglan. These two sliproads are unaffected by the proposals.
The original plans would have closed two short sliproads – an eastbound sliproad joining Baglan Road, and a westbound sliproad linking the town centre to the M4. Both are right next to the Aberafan Shopping Centre, Port Talbot Civic Centre and a Tesco supermarket. It's the quickest way into Port Talbot town centre from the west and quickest way out if you're going to Swansea or Neath.
The proposals proved incredibly unpopular with NPT councillors (most of whom are Labour), local AMs, Port Talbot residents and town centre traders. Two petitions against the proposals garnered a combined total of more than 24,000 signatures - taking their case to the National Assembly back in May - while a well-attended public meeting in April was described by the Port Talbot Magnet as "emotional".
In the original decision letter (pdf), Edwina Hart said the closure could result in an 11% capacity improvement westbound and 2% eastbound, saying this would be worth up to £1million per year to the economy. NPT Council have also been given around £600,000 to carry out remedial works (details here) on roads that could experience traffic problems as a result of the trial.
After a review, the Welsh Government decided only the westbound sliproad will close during the trial on a part-time basis. The eastbound sliproad will therefore remain open for the time being. The trial's due to start in August.
Campaigners are claiming a partial victory, but even with the concessions it'll still affect drivers trying to leave Port Talbot town centre.
Motorists travelling to the
west of Port Talbot when the sliproad is closed will either have to :
And, of course, if the Williams Commission recommendations are enacted in full, Neath Port Talbot (NPT) is going to be more than a neighbour to Bridgend. This blog is unlikely to be around, but with Carwyn Jones holding a double-barrelled shotgun as he leads NPT and Bridgend down the aisle, it's worth paying a bit more attention to what's happening in NPT from a Bridgend perspective.
A controversial decision has been made to trial a partial closure of Junction 41 of the M4 in Port Talbot. Trunk roads – including motorways – are the direct responsibility of the Welsh Government, so the decision rested with the minister in charge of transport, Edwina Hart (Lab, Gower).
I'm sure many of you reading this are familiar with the area.
Junction 41 is split into two halves, all under a blanket 50mph speed limit. The first half to the west consists of two high-quality sliproads which link the M4 with the A48/"Old M4" in Baglan. These two sliproads are unaffected by the proposals.
The original plans would have closed two short sliproads – an eastbound sliproad joining Baglan Road, and a westbound sliproad linking the town centre to the M4. Both are right next to the Aberafan Shopping Centre, Port Talbot Civic Centre and a Tesco supermarket. It's the quickest way into Port Talbot town centre from the west and quickest way out if you're going to Swansea or Neath.
The proposals proved incredibly unpopular with NPT councillors (most of whom are Labour), local AMs, Port Talbot residents and town centre traders. Two petitions against the proposals garnered a combined total of more than 24,000 signatures - taking their case to the National Assembly back in May - while a well-attended public meeting in April was described by the Port Talbot Magnet as "emotional".
In the original decision letter (pdf), Edwina Hart said the closure could result in an 11% capacity improvement westbound and 2% eastbound, saying this would be worth up to £1million per year to the economy. NPT Council have also been given around £600,000 to carry out remedial works (details here) on roads that could experience traffic problems as a result of the trial.
After a review, the Welsh Government decided only the westbound sliproad will close during the trial on a part-time basis. The eastbound sliproad will therefore remain open for the time being. The trial's due to start in August.
Campaigners are claiming a partial victory, but even with the concessions it'll still affect drivers trying to leave Port Talbot town centre.
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| Potential options facing drivers trying to head westwards from Port Talbot town centre. (Taken from Google Earth, click to enlarge) |
- Join at Junction 40 – which means briefly driving in the opposite direction along residential streets.
- Drive through Baglan along the A48 before joining the M4 at Briton Ferry (which will probably be the most popular option as it's more direct).
- Use the dual carriageway through Sandfields.
I told you it was boring, didn't I?
All of these options involve a significant detour, and with traffic lights, roundabouts etc. are likely to add to journey times from the town centre. Making it more difficult to get out of the town centre is likely to cause as many problems and discourage trade as making it harder to get in.
I suppose I won't make myself popular, but the closures are right in principle.
Part of the reason the Welsh Government built the £100million+ Peripheral Distributor Road (PDR) was so they could close some of the M4 junctions. For example, anyone travelling from the direction of Pyle, Bridgend or Cardiff can now use the PDR to access the town centre (and the steelworks) directly instead of via Junction 40.
Motorways should be used for sustained high speed point-to-point travel over medium to long distances. Junction 41 is a cheeky little shortcut that falls well short of modern road design standards.
With
regard the eastbound sliproad – which is staying open - motorway
traffic crosses what for all intents and purposes is an residential
street practically the instant it leaves the M4 (for the unfamiliar, see for yourself here). Using this road accident mapping tool you can see that there've been at least 15
accidents in the general area of the junction since 2005 and at least
4 were serious. If it wasn't right next to the town centre itself, it
would never have been allowed to be built.
You can, however, argue on solid ground that the junction is economically vital. So, quite understandably, Port Talbot residents and town centre businesses are angry as a very convenient and highly-valued access point could be taken away from them - even if it's temporary.
A logical solution that would satisfy everyone would be to upgrade the junction, probably by extending the sliproads to give traffic more time and space to exit or join the M4; or use the hard shoulders (managed motorway) to increase capacity during peak time. In the case of the former though there's not enough room to do that without taking people's gardens and it could easily cost several million pounds.
Another option could be to close the current junction, and build a new set of longer slip roads further east linking to Cwmafan Road (B4286). Again, there's not much space to do it, it would involve knocking down buildings and it would be very expensive.
I don't think this has been done with just Port Talbot in mind either. I suspect this is being done to test the waters with regard public reaction so the Welsh Government can try something similar in Newport.
One of the problems in Newport is that local traffic uses the M4 to jump from one part of the city to another. If junctions were selectively closed in Newport, then it might improve capacity until any Newport bypass is constructed. Also, it might reduce the number of accidents as traffic won't constantly be weaving in and out by joining and leaving – which is a similar problem at Junction 41.
More on that from me tomorrow. I bet you can't wait.
All of these options involve a significant detour, and with traffic lights, roundabouts etc. are likely to add to journey times from the town centre. Making it more difficult to get out of the town centre is likely to cause as many problems and discourage trade as making it harder to get in.
I suppose I won't make myself popular, but the closures are right in principle.
Part of the reason the Welsh Government built the £100million+ Peripheral Distributor Road (PDR) was so they could close some of the M4 junctions. For example, anyone travelling from the direction of Pyle, Bridgend or Cardiff can now use the PDR to access the town centre (and the steelworks) directly instead of via Junction 40.
Motorways should be used for sustained high speed point-to-point travel over medium to long distances. Junction 41 is a cheeky little shortcut that falls well short of modern road design standards.
 |
| Despite parts of Junction 41 falling well below design standards for motorways, the proposal prompted an angry response from traders and residents. (Pic : ITV Wales) |
You can, however, argue on solid ground that the junction is economically vital. So, quite understandably, Port Talbot residents and town centre businesses are angry as a very convenient and highly-valued access point could be taken away from them - even if it's temporary.
A logical solution that would satisfy everyone would be to upgrade the junction, probably by extending the sliproads to give traffic more time and space to exit or join the M4; or use the hard shoulders (managed motorway) to increase capacity during peak time. In the case of the former though there's not enough room to do that without taking people's gardens and it could easily cost several million pounds.
Another option could be to close the current junction, and build a new set of longer slip roads further east linking to Cwmafan Road (B4286). Again, there's not much space to do it, it would involve knocking down buildings and it would be very expensive.
I don't think this has been done with just Port Talbot in mind either. I suspect this is being done to test the waters with regard public reaction so the Welsh Government can try something similar in Newport.
One of the problems in Newport is that local traffic uses the M4 to jump from one part of the city to another. If junctions were selectively closed in Newport, then it might improve capacity until any Newport bypass is constructed. Also, it might reduce the number of accidents as traffic won't constantly be weaving in and out by joining and leaving – which is a similar problem at Junction 41.
More on that from me tomorrow. I bet you can't wait.
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