ONE of our stories which drew the most online comments this week was news Jayne Bryant had raised in the Senedd the issue of traffic problems around the M4 Junction 28 roundabout.

The Newport West AM said she had received 40 complaints from constituents on Tuesday morning who had been affected by gridlock and tailbacks of up to four miles in places.

Many of the comments on our website were from people who were unhappy with the new layout of the roundabout.

Here's what some of our readers had to say:

I have 'complained' to the Council about the syncing of the lights and the reply I received from Costain was: "We have checked the lights and they are working as intended. We very much regret the inconvenience but safety is paramount."

Pier Master

This is a specific problem for the J28 area and I sympathise with all those who have been adversely affected.

However to prevent more and more separate issues like this occurring in the future, government needs to realise that the UK has a lot of people and vehicles for a nation that is not that large in area.

We need more roads that are wider and better designed. Spend the money to put roads far enough from where people live for example.

The WAG [Welsh Assembly Government] has spent millions on doing assessments and setting up committees to look for reasons not to build the M4 relief road, yet they have spent nothing on actually building it!

It would not be so bad if their concerns were for people, but from what I can gather they are deeply concerned for the welfare of a few wild rodents.

Justin Opinion.

I would like to know who is currently benefitting from the changes that have been made here.

Nearly 14 million pounds was spent here, I know the people trying to navigate this roundabout are no better off (worse I would say since the re-modelling) so I can only think the planners, designers, the suppliers and contractors who got 18months plus work here are the only benefiters (sic) from this project.

BigSimon1960

One simple thing is put red light cameras and box junction cameras up.

I've noticed it's been the selfish idiots running reds to get half a car in front, or blocking off a box junction so nothing gets past.

Fine them, or show that they will be fined.

Ros Lloyd

Would it help if we had a rail connection to Newport from Ebbw vale? And would it be possible to use the rail connection to machen in the near future as the Royal train used it a few weeks ago With out any problems with connectivity to Newport?

The commuting public is being let down.

Concerned !

To be honest, the layout of junction 28 when combined with the issue with the traffic light timing, is a massive accident just waiting to happen.

Linda381

A prediction , sooner or later a LGV will pile into the line of standing traffic in lane one. I prefer to go on to High Cross to get off the motorway as I find myself braced for the impact when waiting at this very poorly designed and busy junction.

westender

JAYNE Bryant's Senedd speech came after a morning of gridlock on Tuesday, with tailbacks of several miles. The congestions was worsened by a traffic lights malfunction on the Bassaleg roundabout, north of Junction 28.

Here's what some of our readers had to say about that story:

This is the chaos that was predicted before they even started the work. Get used to it.

Nanker Phelge

Where are the engineers coming from, Siemens in Germany?

scorpy68

Build the by-pass.

It'll fix everything.

Oh they did?

Build another one.

It'll fix everything.

Nil Illegitimi Carborundum

The roundabout is a joke. Regardless of how sensible a driver you are, there is always a first time user of the roundabout in the wrong lane (through no fault of their own) likely to clip someone and cause chaos.

As busy as the old roundabout was, traffic flowed better and very rarely did I have to worry about being cut up or clipped on the rear of my vehicle.

SteveD

Traffic around Newport is horrendous! The so called improvements at J28 Tredegar Park haven't improved anything - in fact it's made things worse. I've never had to queue on the M4 westbound in morning rush hour yet this is now a daily hazard. It's dangerous. Something needs to be done to improve flow from this direction before there is an accident.

Ronnie Hotdogs

As expected its a problem with the light sequencing. OK fair enough they should get someone out to sort it a bit quicker than they have done.

I don't understand all these amateur civil engineers/road planners though. Could you do any better? I'm not an expert on these matters but I'm sure Costain do have experts who designed the whole layout. For people to comment that its "badly designed" or "they could do better" is just laughable and embarrassing.

nothingwrongwithourkids

Absolutely shambolic. I work near Tredegar Park and the traffic problems on some days are completely demoralising. Too many cars, too many houses and crap infrastructure. It's just not sustainable. Need an extensive improvement of public transport around here, school traffic is ridiculous too. Don't people car share or walk to school anymore?

mcnulty38