Tuesday, November 5, 2024

The £400m bridge that could have ended travel chaos between mainland and island

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Plans for a third Menai Crossing connecting the Isle of Anglesey with mainland Wales were scrapped, even though it was thought it could help ease traffic.

The bridge was proposed to carry the A55 as a dual carriageway, and would have superseded the current A55 Britannia Bridge.

Plans for a third crossing were first drafted in 2007, while proposals for a tunnel, later deemed implausible, were drawn up in 2011. The bridge proposal was selected in 2018.

The plan was estimated to cost a hefty £400million and to take seven years to build.

In 2021, the Welsh government permanently paused any plans for the bridge over climate change emission concerns.

In December 2022, the government had set 2030 as a likely date for the bridge’s completion but it was not confirmed whether the plans would definitely be going ahead.

In February 2023, the Welsh government announced the entire project would not go ahead, mainly due to environmental concerns. The financing of the project was also another main reason for its cancellation.

A review into North Wales’ infrastructure did not support a third crossing, but recognised that there might be future reasons to consider it.

For now, no further plans have been announced but this issue may continue to arise until a solution for the third crossing, which would help with traffic flow, can be found.

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