GIVE us our bypass back! Have you ever wondered why Newport has so many slip roads on/off the M4?

Someone over the age of 60 will know that in the early 1960s, Newport Borough had a swathe of land around Newport earmarked for the Newport bypass.

Along came the MoT and said we will have that land to build the M4 keeping the same slip roads as your bypass plan (ie Coldra, Caerleon Road, Malpas Road, High Cross and Tredegar Park). I, like many others, suggested a three-lane tunnel for Brynglas, but on-site officials said that ground surveys suggested the rock formation wasn’t conducive to tunnelling and so it proved with the later demolition of houses above the tunnel at Brynglas. So, if the strata wasn’t suitable then, it’s not suitable now!

Later, when the tunnels started to fail (traffic-wise) officialdom reneged on the bypass idea and built the A4042 and closed Junction 25 (Grove Park) rendering the bypass pretty near useless for all eastbound traffic except J28 - J26, Malpas Road. So, please look at my plan or use Option A as the new M4 and give us our bypass back.

Ronald Berry, Malpas Road, Newport