The first lorry made its way across the Prince of Wales Bridge for free around 06:30 GMT on Monday. The two bridges see 25 million journeys across the Severn each year.
The fee was £5.60 for a car and £16.70 for a lorry has been removed on M4 and M48 bridges between south-west England and Wales it will save commuters up to £1,400 a year.
The removal of the toll booths on the M4 Prince of Wales bridge has begun and three lanes have been reopened with a 50mph speed restriction on temporary narrow lanes.
The M48 original Severn crossing between Chepstow and Aust is closed until 07:00 GMT Wednesday for the tolls to be removed.
Works will be carried out in 2019 to help return to a three-lane motorway with the usual 70mph speed limit.
The bridge first opened in 1966 by the Queen and it was the first time in history that most travellers will be able to cross the Severn Estuary that separates Monmouthshire and south Gloucestershire without a fee. The Severn Crossing was renamed the Prince of Wales Bridge this year, it has always charged a fee ever since it opened.It was named ‘renamed the Prince of Wales Bridge’ to recognise Charles’ 70th birthday year and 60 years since he became Prince of Wales. 30,000 people signed a petition against the renaming of the bridge but the petition was ignored.
100 staff have been made redundant due to the removal of tolls. The removal is estimated to boost the welsh economy by £100m.
Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns, who paid the final toll over the second crossing on Sunday, said: “The end of the tolls is a major milestone for the economies of south Wales and south-west of England, and will remove historic barriers between communities.
“Scrapping the tolls means an end to generations of people paying to simply cross the border….meaning more money in their pockets, helping them with the cost of living and leaving them with more cash to spend in their local areas.”
The UK Government has predicted the toll removal could mean a traffic rise by six million more vehicles a year, this could mean more congestion along the M4 at the Brynglas Tunnels. It also means there may be an increase of costs to businesses. Hold-ups will mean businesses that rely on transporting goods across the bridge will lose money, but they will also save money as they will not be paying tolls. Big Haulage companies that rely on the bridge will save thousands; Collier Haulage say they are expecting to save £50,000 to £55,000 per year.
The toll is being removed as it returned to public ownership on New Year’s Day 2018.
