Speed restrictions on the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge will be lifted today (Friday) morning as work by Highways England to remove the toll plaza is completed.
[aoa id=”1″]Following the removal of toll charges on the Severn Bridges, work started in January to return both toll plazas to a free-flowing motorway. This will be completed on the Prince of Wales Bridge first with the M48 Severn Bridge following later in June. The 50mph speed limit will be removed and a 70mph speed limit will be in place by 6am on 31 May.[/aoa]
The project has involved demolishing the toll booths, removing utilities, replacing the road surface and recreating three full motorway lanes. Over 17,000 tonnes of surfacing materials have been used for both bridges and over 16,000 hours worked by teams from nine specialist companies.
Hannah Milliner, General Manager of Highways England’s Severn Bridges team, said: “The scale of the work undertaken was immense and the teams involved have done well to complete the work slightly ahead of schedule. Although it sounded a relatively straightforward task, it was actually very complex to deliver while maintaining three lanes of traffic across the bridge as usual.
“I would like to thank motorists for their patience while the work was under way and we hope that drivers will now benefit from the removal of toll charges and a free-flowing journey.”
Over the weekend the last elements of the project will be completed with the removal of CCTV cameras from the toll plaza. All work on the M4 bridge will be completed by 4 June, while work on the M48 Severn Bridge is scheduled to be completed by the end of June when it too returns to a 70mph speed limit.
