The M4 relief road project has been development for years, and last week a public inquiry into the project was announced. Welsh secretary ALUN CAIRNS sets out in his own words why he believes the scheme is essential for the people of South Wales.

"LONG-SUFFERING commuters stuck on the M4 last week might had some cause for optimism – if not celebration – at the news that a public inquiry will be held later this year into the options around a relief road.

The congestion on the stretch of motorway running past Newport is now among the worst to be found on UK roads. Add to that the prospect of nightly closures for two years of tunnel work at Brynglas, and the trauma of travel never seems to end.

I welcomed the inquiry called by Ken Skates as a positive step. The need for action on a relief road is one of those issues that spans party divides and the Wales Office will do what it can to help.

The position of the UK Government on this issue is clear. We have given the Welsh Government early access to £500m of borrowing powers to finance the work, and the choice of route is down to Cardiff Bay.

David Cameron made clear his frustration at the start on work during Prime Minister’s Question Time on May 11. He described the M4 as a “vital transport artery” and warned businesses in South Wales would suffer as a result of delays.

I had a vivid illustration of that last point when I recently visited the InBev brewery in Magor, near Newport.

Home to brands like Budweiser and Stella Artois, the brewery produces around 792m pints of beer per year. But however fast the product leaves the brewery, it is limited by the crawling speed of the M4 as the brewery’s lorries hit the motorway. I heard stories from employees of motorway delays running into hours, and tight delivery slots at major supermarkets being missed.

Companies clustered around the M4 will continue to suffer until we get this sorted. It is not just a question of commuters facing dreary tailbacks – frustrating enough though that is - but of a bottleneck that puts the handbrake on the South Wales economy.

The Argus has done much to highlight these issues, and I commend it on its thorough reporting.

It’s certain the public inquiry will face a tough job. The black route, the alternative blue route – both have equally noisy detractors and advocates and that volume will only increase when the inquiry sits this autumn.

It is not for me to be prescriptive on what route any relief road should take – that is the choice of the Welsh Government.

But what is abundantly clear is that a difficult choice will have to be made.

We have been talking about the need to relieve congestion on a stretch of the M4 built in the 1960s since the late 1980s. Fast forward to the 21st century and traffic on the motorway is at nightmarish levels. This cannot go on.

It is unacceptable that both Westminster and Cardiff Bay work to attract businesses to South Wales yet we cannot guarantee the road links they will demand.

So let’s get on with the public inquiry and come to a decisive conclusion with as little delay as possible. The finance is there, the political will for the UK and Welsh Governments to act is there. It’s time to get Wales on the move."

South Wales Argus:

M4 relief road: history of the project

CONGESTION and delays on the M4 are a long-running source of frustration for people living and working in Newport.

The stretch of the motorway running past the city is the most congestion section of road in Wales, with the Brynglas Tunnels a particular bottleneck.

An answer to the problems has been on the cards for years, but only now does it look like a solution may be moving forward.

The £1.2bn black route – the Welsh Government’s preferred option to relieve the problems – would see a new section of motorway running between junctions 23 and 29 south of Newport built.

But other groups, such as Plaid Cymru, favour the cheaper and quicker to build blue route, which would see the Southern Distributor Road turned into a four-lane dual carriageway.

And objections have been raised by organisations including Natural Resources Wales, which has said the project would cause “unprecedented” damage to the environment. Associated British Ports South Wales, which runs Newport docks, also said the development would “cause serious detriment” to the port.

The Welsh Government has already spent £20m in consultancy costs on the project.

Earlier this week the Welsh Government’s new economy and infrastructure secretary Ken Skates announced a long-awaited public inquiry into the plans would get underway this autumn.

The five-month inquiry, to be led by an independent inspector, will be held at the Lysaght Institute in Corporation Road, Newport, and will be open to the public.

Mr Skates said, although the Welsh Government has identified the black route as its preferred option, the inspector will look at all possible courses of action, including doing nothing at all, and a new analysis of the blue route will be put together before it gets underway.

If the black route gets the go-ahead building work will begin in spring 2018, with the new section of motorway opening to traffic in autumn 2021. The existing stretch of the M4 between junctions 23 and 29 will be reclassified as a trunk road 12 months later.

Building work will involve constructing 35 new bridges and knocking down 12 residential buildings – including the Grade II listed Vicarage in Magor.