THE August Bank Holiday weekend began with traffic chaos as thousands of people were brought to a standstill due to holiday traffic.
The roads were expected to be busy, with many getting away for the three-day weekend with the M4 seeing a large amount of holiday traffic this morning.
Those aiming to get away around lunchtime were hindered by this busy traffic and a crash on the M4 which blocked one lane.
It happened around midday on the westbound stretch of the M4 between junction 24 at the Coldra and junction 25A for Cwmbran and Newport, with lane three of three being blocked.
It is believed that three cars were involved in the crash, and there was heavy congestion surrounding the site due to the holiday traffic.
Traffic Wales confirmed that the crash site was cleared at around 12.17pm, but warnings were put in place that congestion was likely to continue for a long period due to the increased traffic on the roads. At this point, the queues were as far back as Brynglas Tunnels on the eastbound carriage and Cardiff Gate on the westbound side.
An hour after the crash had been cleared, there was still congestion across the M4 and the SDR in Newport was also becoming heavily congested. It wasn’t just cars that were affected, but those travelling by bus experienced delayed journeys, with Newport Bus tweeting their services were experiencing ‘significant delays’ due to the congestion.
Into the early evening, there is still significant congestion along the M4 with queuing holiday traffic on the westbound carriage between junction 23A at Magor Services and junction 26 at Malpas Road. AA is also showing travel times of 20 minutes on the eastbound carriage between junction 30 at Cardiff Gate and junction 26 at Malpas Road. There is also heavy traffic showing along the M4 westbound near Tredegar House. There is also heavy traffic showing for the westbound carriage between Rogiet and Malpas Road.
We’ve had a few weather warnings recently, but this afternoon, a warning of a different kind was put in place as the AA issued an amber warning for traffic jams across the weekend. They expect 15 million trips are going to be made across the bank holiday weekend.
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