No date for long-delayed £40m 'ghost junction'

A £40m motorway "ghost junction" which has been left unused since 2020 still has no confirmed opening date, a government minister has said.

The junction above the M49 motorway near Bristol now faces extensive repairs despite never being used by a single vehicle due to defects found little more than a year after it was finished.

In a House of Commons debate Claire Young, MP for Thornbury and Yate asked roads minister Justin Madders if he was as "baffled" as she was by the situation.

Madders said the government had already provided around £10m of support for the junction's development and said it was not possible to provide a "definitive timeline" for its opening.

The junction between Severn Beach and Chittening had been intended to connect the motorway with the Avonmouth Severnside Enterprise Area, a major industrial estate.

Speaking in Parliament, Young said residents had faced years of dealing with large lorries travelling along unsuitable country roads, causing safety fears for pedestrians and cyclists as well as disturbing homes.

"My constituents have waited six years," Young said. "They are not asking for much - they are asking for a date and for someone, at last, to take responsibility."

National Highways - a government-owned company - completed the junction in 2020, but it remained disconnected from the local road network because a short link road to the nearby industrial estate had not been built.

The link road was originally the responsibility of a private developer, but the government said the developer was not willing to meet its commitment and National Highways had no power to compel them to build it.

South Gloucestershire Council later took over the project, backed by £10m of government funding, and construction started with the aim of opening in autumn 2026.

But before the junction can finally open, the identified defects including surface cracking must be repaired, with National Highways still investigating the cause and determining who is responsible.

Young also raised questions about a "novel construction technique" used on the junction, referencing another unnamed junction which had been built creating the same technique which had also seen defects materialise quickly.

"The House deserves to know whether these are isolated faults, or two instances of something more systemic in how these structures were built and signed off," she said.

Madders said further investigations would "allow the root cause of defects to be better understood – and this is ongoing and can only be confirmed once engagement with the contractor has concluded".

Follow BBC Bristol on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.