Options for third Menai crossing to be considered, says minister

"Detailed options" for building a third bridge between Anglesey and the north Wales mainland will be considered by the Welsh government, a minister has announced.

The existing crossings are struggling, with the Menai Suspension Bridge closing three times last month and regular partial or full Britannia Bridge closures due to high winds.

Deputy Transport Minister Mark Hooper said the Plaid Cymru government was "progressing" immediate and "longer-term options to strengthen resilience across the Menai Strait, including considering detailed options for a third crossing".

He also told the Senedd he would say more this autumn on ways to tackle a south Wales M4 motorway bottleneck at Newport.

A review in 2023 recommended plans for a third bridge be scrapped, but a year later the then Labour transport minister Ken Skates said another crossing could be considered.

The Menai Suspension Bridge has been restricted to vehicles under 7.5 tonnes since repair works began in October 2022.

In his first statement to the Senedd, on Tuesday, Hooper said Menai Suspension Bridge had a "series of structural issues identified through ongoing inspection, including defects in critical components such as hangers and bolts beneath the deck".

"This is a 200-year-old structure, never designed for modern traffic demands, and it will continue to present challenges," he said.

Work should be completed in spring next year "stabilising and preserving the structure, including repairs to crossbeams and bolts beneath the deck, alongside wider refurbishment such as repainting, concrete repairs and lighting upgrades", he told Senedd members.

Improvements to Britannia Bridge could include "wind deflectors" to reduce weather-related disruption, signalling upgrades and variable speed limits on the bridge so "disruption can be managed more effectively when restrictions are required on either crossing", he said.

"Looking at the longer term, we will now start looking at detailed options for a third Menai Crossing, building on the work already undertaken."

On M4 congestion at the Brynglas tunnels, in Newport, Hooper said the government would focus on speeding up "delivery of public transport alternatives, targeted measures to improve flow and resilience on the existing road network and better integration between strategic and local transport systems".

But he stressed a previous plan for an M4 relief road at Newport, cancelled in 2019 by the then Labour first minister Mark Drakeford, would not be resurrected, as it was not a "credible option".

Last month First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth said a "roads-based solution" was needed and Plaid Cymru's Senedd election manifesto said the party would "address congestion on the M4 around Newport".

At the election Reform, now the largest opposition party in Cardiff Bay, promised it would build an M4 relief road and the party's leader Nigel Farage suggested it could be funded by charging tolls.