Off one of the longest motorways in the UK has a slip road that goes nowhere – or at least, nowhere the public has any reason to go.
There’s a turning off the motorway where the M4 tolls used to stand, but it only leads to a relic of what went before.
The toll booths on the Prince of Wales Bridge, better known as the second Severn crossing, were originally opened when the bridge was built to increase capacity.
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It provides a more direct route from England to Newport and Cardiff, and vice versa, Wales Online reports.
The booths themselves are no more having been sent for scrap in 2019 after ceasing operations in December 2018 when the divisive toll was abolished after more than 50 years.
But the operations building is still in place and has a junction dedicated to it, standing as a physical reminder of the toll system. Motorway fanatics from the Auto Shenanigans channel pointed out the "leftovers" of the site in a recent video on YouTube.
The slip road also leads to some back roads giving access to farmland which, back in the day, could've been used to send you back over the bridge if you couldn't pay the toll.
Today, there's no reason for the general public to use the junction and it stands as the only physical reminder of the toll system. All it leads to is the defunct toll building and some side roads leading to a small amount of private land by the sea.
The rest of the road has since been narrowed leaving little other trace of the tolls. But the tolls might not be gone for good - although if they come back, it would be in a different form. In March it was reported that low-emission zones could be created on certain stretches of the M4 and A470 if emissions aren't lowered enough. Parts of the M4 near Newport could become part of such a scheme.
When climate minister Julie James introduced the bill, she said: "Our ambition is to further improve air quality and soundscapes by bringing forward new measures to reduce the impacts of air and noise pollution on human health, biodiversity and the natural environment."
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