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Major motorway bridge used by thousands of drivers everyday to CLOSE in days – is your route affected?

A MAJOR motorway bridge used by thousands of drivers everyday will close in just days.

The popular passage is undergoing urgent maintenance and road users have been warned to plan their journeys.

The Prince of Wales Bridge, connecting England and Wales, is used by thousands every day moving traffic from the Bristol area into Newport and vice versa.

The road will be re-surfaced in a few days, requiring both overnight and lane closures.

On April 27, the road will be closed for four nights from 9pm to 6am westbound.

Drivers have been told to divert their journey via the M48 Severn Bridge.

There will also be full overnight closures on May 1, 6, and 7 from 9pm until 6am.

For heavy goods vehicles there will be a 7.5t weight restriction from May 27 for 12 to 18 months, so HGV drivers have been warned to take alternative routes.

This weight restriction doesn’t include emergency vehicles, gritters, recovery vehicles, buses and coaches.

National Highways has been repairing the bridge since last year and said it needs to complete the renovations by waterproofing and resurfacing 1km of the cable stay bridge.

Motorists have been warned that travelling may take longer than expected and to prepare for delays.

There will be a temporary contraflow and reduced speed limit on the bridge during maintenance periods.

This is weather-dependent and National Highways are hoping to have the work fully completed by July.

Maintenance also included Inspecting the concrete bridge deck , replacing bridge joints , replacing drainage covers , and maintaining the facilities in the towers.

The road management organisation said last year: “We started a scheme of works to re-waterproof and resurface 1km of the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge earlier this year. 

“This was the first major resurfacing and re-waterproofing since the M4 bridge opened in 1996 and essential for the long-term operation of the bridge.

“We’ve also taken the opportunity to carry out other maintenance work.”

This comes after the Prince of Wales Bridge was closed yesterday evening after a serious road traffic accident just before 6.20pm.

Disruption affected traffic in both directions from junction 22 on the M49 to junction 23 on the M48.

The road was closed in both directions with commuters heading home severely affected.

Images from live cameras showed traffic brought to a complete standstill for frustrated motorists.

Multiple emergency services are at the scene, including police from both sides of the border and ambulances.