The A55 is cut to 30 mph over the Britannia Bridge in high winds, with the crossing still open to everything
This notice has ended. It was last checked on Sun 6 Sept, 01:34 and is kept for the record.
Where this sits
The 30 mph limit is the first of four wind rungs on the bridge: Traffic Wales imposes it above 30 mph winds, three heavier restrictions sit above it.
Closure is the top rung and needs winds over 70 mph, more than twice the speed that triggers today's limit.
One of the 23 alerts live on the Traffic Wales trunk road list this afternoon is a wind restriction, and it is this one.
Drivers crossing to and from Anglesey are held to 30 mph in both directions on the Britannia Bridge. Traffic Wales gives high winds as the cause and says the limit runs until further notice. This desk found the same alert live at 07:13 and again at 16:32 on Thursday, so the limit was in place through that day; Traffic Wales re-stamped the alert at 17:09 rather than putting the limit on then. It rates the disruption as slight and gives an end date of Friday 4 September. At the moment nothing is banned. Every vehicle can still cross, at 30 mph.
That limit is the lowest of four steps Traffic Wales sets out for the crossing. Winds above 30 mph bring the 30 mph limit. Above 40 mph, motorbikes, caravans and cyclists are restricted as well. Above 63 mph, only cars and car-sized vans may use the bridge. The bridge closes to all traffic when winds pass 70 mph.
Traffic Wales publishes no measured wind speed with the alert, so what a driver knows is the step, not the reading. The Met Office had no weather warning in force for Wales when its Wales feed was read at 17:20 on Thursday, and again at 18:36. The Menai Suspension Bridge, the other road crossing to Anglesey, carries no alert at all.
Update, 12:50 on Friday 4 September: alert 594066 is still live on Traffic Wales, read at 12:50. It still reads 30 mph, both directions, until further notice, and Traffic Wales has not updated it since 17:09 on Thursday. Its end date is today.
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