The M49 motorway is just long and forms a link between the

M5 motorway The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...

west of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

at junction 18A and the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...

at junction 22 before the Second Severn Crossing (now officially renamed the Prince of Wales Bridge). It was constructed at the same time as the bridge in 1996. It is unique in that it is only accessible from other motorways.

Route

The M49 begins at junction 18A of the M5 and then heads roughly north and northwest before it reaches its terminal junction with the M4 at junction 22, just before the Second Severn Crossing at Pilning Interchange. It cuts journey times for traffic to and from

Avonmouth Avonmouth is a port and outer suburb of Bristol, England, facing two rivers: the reinforced north bank of the final stage of the Avon which rises at sources in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset; and the eastern shore of the Severn Es ...

docks, Central and southern Bristol and

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities ...

. Compared to driving via the M4/M5 interchange, using the M49 cuts the distance travelled by 6.2 miles. Having a two-way

grade separated In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tra ...

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford Eng ...

junction with the M4, it also fulfils the additional role of providing a bypass for the busy stretch of the M5 between the Avonmouth Bridge and the M4 in case of that route being shut. Original plans provided for an intermediate junction with the A403, to serve an expanded industrial area and

Severn Beach Severn Beach is a village on the Severn Estuary in South Gloucestershire, England. The eastern portal of the Severn Tunnel is on the outskirts of the village. The Severn footpathon the sea wallis part of the Severn Way that leads from Glouces ...

, construction of Junction 1 commenced summer 2018 and was completed late in August 2020. Despite this, the junction is not currently connected to the local road network, so cannot be used to access the motorway. The M49 is anomalously numbered, as it is entirely to the south of the M4 and should therefore begin with a 3.

Junction 1 link road dispute

After the junction itself was completed in August 2020, disputes arose over who should construct the road linking the new Junction 1 to the local road network. The dispute initially emerged between

Highways England National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency and later Highways England, is a government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving motorways and major A roads in England. It also sets highways standards used by all f ...

, South Gloucestershire Council, and the development company Delta Properties, as a result of privately owned land on the development which surrounds the junction. In February 2021, the West of England Combined Authority agreed to supply £1 million towards the construction of the link road, but by May a further deficit of £1 million had arisen. As of September 2022, the situation remains unsolved.

Junctions

Data from

driver location signs Driver location signs are signs placed every along each side of English motorways, and some other major English roads, to provide information that will allow motorists to know their precise location. , roads in England, but not Scotland, Wale ...

are used to provide distance and carriageway identifier information. {, style="margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em; color:black; font-size:95%;" class="wikitable" , - style="background:#0080d0; text-align:center; color:white; font-size:120%;" , colspan="5" , M49 motorway junctions , - !scope=col, miles !scope=col, km !scope=col abbr="North-west bound", North-west bound exits (B carriageway) !scope=col, Junction !scope=col abbr="South-east bound", South-east bound exits (A carriageway) , - align="center" , - align="center" , rowspan="2", 0.0 , rowspan="2", 0.0 ,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

M4(E) , rowspan="2", M4 J22
''terminus'' , The South West,

M49 , - align="center" , - align="center" ,

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

, Newport M4(W) , ''Start of motorway'' , - align="center" , rowspan="2", 5.3 , rowspan="2", 8.5 , ''Start of motorway'' , rowspan="2", ''Terminus''
A4, M5
J18 & J18A ,

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

A4 , - align="center" ,

, Newport ( M4(W)) M49 , The South West, Weston-s-Mare, M5 , - align="center" , - , colspan=5, Notes *Distances in kilometres and carriageway identifiers are obtained from

/location marker posts. Where a junction spans several hundred metres and the data is available, both the start and finish values for the junction are shown. *Junction 1 is under construction. , - ''Information above gathered from Advanced Direction Signs May 2011''

References

External links

CBRD Motorway Database – M49Pathetic Motorways – M49Avonmouth Junction - M49
{{DEFAULTSORT:4-0049 Motorways in England Roads in Bristol Transport in South Gloucestershire District

Route

Junction 1 link road dispute

Junctions

See also

References

External links