FRUSTRATED commuters finally got to see some of the benefits of the new road layout at a busy M4 motorway junction today.

First glimpses of progress on the dreaded M4 J28 roundabout near Newport were revealed as traffic flowed through a new single direct lane from the M4 J28 eastbound off-slip and the A48 from Cleppa Park, to the A48 towards Newport.

And soon, contractors Costain are planning to open up the central drive-through on the Pont Ebbw roundabout, meaning two-way traffic will be able to travel along the A48 between Tredegar Park roundabout and the Southern Distributor Road.

The two projects, linked with the completed Bassaleg roundabout works, fall under the Welsh Government’s £4million M4 J28 Improvement Scheme started in February 2017.

Costain warned last week that the full benefits of the improvements will not be realised until all three roundabouts are complete and operating with the support of new intelligent traffic light system.

But not everyone was impressed with the new layout revealed this morning.

‎‎Kelly Thomas‎ posted in the A467, Junction 28 Traffic Action Group: “Forge road is the worst it's been today for some time. Queuing up the Risca by-pass which hasn't happened for a while. “I’m Guessing it's coz they are forcing the filtering of the right hand lane. So much for a summer holidays traffic break.

She later added: “Just realised the new 'straight over road' is open and the new lights and lane filtering are causing chaos. I go on that roundabout everyday so well aware of the changes but even I got caught out today and had to cut across three lanes to get to Pencarn way.”

Tanya Cooper added: “Too many traffic lights in a short space. This is going to be fun.”

While Leanne Benson said: “What a disaster. Accident waiting to happen. Utter chaos.”

Before the lanes opened, a spokesman for Costain said: “The additional lanes on the roundabout will assist the distribution of traffic to the other limbs of the roundabout and in particular to the Government Offices that support the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and the Wafer Fab components plant.

“In addition, the traffic light system on all three roundabouts can interact to ensure an optimum level of traffic throughput.”