Council earmarks £500k for A48 Chepstow bypass

The A48 heading into Chepstow has been the subject of pollution claims

Commuters may face a shorter amount of time stuck in traffic thanks to a planned bypass.

Gloucestershire County Council has put half of its £1m "pump-prime" major infrastructure budget towards the planned Chepstow Bypass in a bid to alleviate traffic on the A48.

Congestion on the Wye Bridge towards the M48 Severn Bridge has led to poor air quality in Chepstow.

Council leader Mark Hawthorne has described it as a "real crunch point".

Campaigners have been fighting for a bypass to alleviate the problem for many years, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

At a meeting at Shire Hall last week, Mr Hawthorne spoke of Gloucestershire County Council's successes in improving Gloucestershire's road network.

"[Work] for the A417 Missing Link is onsite now," Mr Hawthorne said.

"The M5 junction 9, junction 10, Arle Court, on time and on budget, our network of cycle routes keeping our county moving.

"But we want to go further, that's why this budget invests another £500,000 to bring forward proposals for the Chepstow bypass, a real crunch point for our county."

Monmouthshire and Gloucestershire County Council have agreed to advance plans for a new road to bypass Chepstow to end congestion in the town centre and at the Highbeech roundabout.

But Forest of Dean District Council rejected a motion last year to support a "traffic-jam busting" bypass for Chepstow.

It was described as a "road to nowhere" by district chiefs.