Third Menai crossing on cards for 2027 start
A report from the Welsh Government inks in the £400m infrastructure project as one of its pipeline schemes for the coming years.
The Wales Infrastructure Investment Strategy – Project Pipeline report was published yesterday by the Welsh Government, and sets out a strategic framework for investment across environmental, social, economic and cultural projects.
Within this, the £400m A55 Third Menai Crossing project, which is to be wholly funded by the WG, is included, with a projected start date of 2027 with the aim of completing in 2029/30.
Rebecca Evans MS, minister for finance and local government, said in the report’s ministerial foreword that “despite challenges, we remain committed to the ambitions set out in the WIIS”.
The Menai project was one of 55 highway projects paused in summer 2021 by the WG’s climate change ministry for reassessment in the wake of falling capital budgets and a greater focus on sustainability and economic criteria. Although the verdict on which projects have survived has not yet been given, the bridge scheme’s inclusion here suggests it is still a priority.
A third way across the Menai Straits, linking Anglesey and the Welsh mainland, has been under official discussion for some years, with a full consultation being undertaken in early 2018.
Capacity has long been an issue, with the Britannia Bridge being the only section of the A55 that is single carriageway; and the historic, but height- and width-restricted A5 Menai Bridge being the only other option.
The Thomas Telford-designed bridge is currently closed for essential maintenance. In September, Spencer Group secured a series of contracts for refurbishment works ahead of the bridge’s 200th birthday in 2026.
With options prepared by a professional team led by Aecom and Richards, respondents to the 2018 consultation were given various options for a new crossing, including the widening of Britannia Bridge and the possibility of both that bridge and the new bridge each being one-way.
The most popular, and the one taken forward as the preferred option, was for a new four-lane bridge east of the Britannia Bridge.
The new bridge would carry all through-traffic in each direction, with the existing bridge being reconfigured for local traffic and pedestrians and cyclists – the accommodating of active travel being one of the main reasons for a four-lane option being preferred.
