Second Severn Crossing

The Second Severn Crossing —officially renamed the Prince of Wales Bridge —is the M4 motorway bridge over the River Severn between England and Wales, inaugurated on 5 June 1996 by HRH The Prince of Wales to supplement the traffic capacity of the Severn Bridge built in 1966. The bridge is operated by Highways England. It was announced on 5 April 2018 that it was to be renamed the Prince of Wales Bridge, and on 2 July 2018 the bridge was renamed in a ceremony conducted by the Prince.The Second Severn Crossing marks the lower limit of the River Severn and the start of the Severn Estuary. It is further southwest than the Severn Bridge and because it is closer in-line with the landward sides of the M4, it reduces the length of the journey when travelling between England and Wales. The junctions at each end are designed for most traffic to use this crossing, and in order to use the old Severn Bridge crossing, one has to leave the M4 at junction 21 and join the M48 near Aust or at junction 23 near Magor. The new crossing carries more traffic than the Severn Bridge, which is still in use. It is wider than the Severn Bridge, having three lanes and a narrow hard shoulder each way, compared to the two lanes, cycle path and narrow footpath of the original crossing. It is a cable-stayed bridge, whereas the Severn Bridge is a suspension bridge. The position of the bridge is close to that of the Severn Tunnel, which has carried the railway line beneath the river bed since 1886. Much of the estuary is mudflats at low tide, but at high tide these can be covered by as much as 14 metres of water. This presented the engineers with a constraint: packets of work were scheduled at low tide, and needed to be completed within the short windows allowed by the tides. The concession given to the consortium which financed, built and operate the bridge required them to take over the outstanding debt on the original Severn Bridge and to operate the two bridges as a single entity. Tolls were set annually by the government based on the previous year's change in the Retail Price Index. On the expiry of the concession in January 2018, the consortium was required to hand the bridge over to public ownership. It was reported in 2012 that the repayments were likely to continue until the early 2020s due to the introduction of a revised settlement to the operator in return for accepting payment by debit and credit cards. The announcement said that even after repayment was complete the toll charges would likely remain at the same levels. However, in July 2017 it was announced that the toll would be scrapped, and on 2 October 2018 it was announced that tolls will be scrapped on 17 December 2018.
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