Jenny Willott, the Liberal Democrat MP for Cardiff Central, has today welcomed the decision of the Highways Agency to delay planned M4 roadworks by at least an hour in order to prevent chaos and delays for fans travelling home from Cardiff City’s crunch Play- Off Final match against Blackpool at Wembley tomorrow.
The M4 between Junctions 16 and 17 was originally due to close at 7 pm. With the match not expected to finish until at least 5 pm there was no chance fans would have passed through the area before the closure.
Ms Willott wrote an urgent letter to the Highways Agency on Wednesday asking them to delay the works in order to give Bluebird fans a clear route home.
Today she received a letter from Graham Dalton, the Chief Executive of the Highways Agency, saying that they will not now start the closure until at least 8 pm and will review the traffic flows and if necessary may completely postpone the closure.
Welcoming the news Ms Willott said:
“I am very grateful to Graham Dalton and the Highways Agency for their prompt decision on this issue. I hope that the delay to the start of the roadworks will mean that the vast majority of fans will have passed through the area before it is closed off.
“I am also very pleased that they will make further assessments of the traffic level before going ahead, so if the game goes to extra time or penalties they can take that into account.”
