WORK to relieve congestion chaos around a major traffic hotspot may not be carried out for at least another 10 years. Consultant team Atkins recommended that junction 21 of the M5 should be moved southbound when it presented the Greater Bristol Strategic

WORK to relieve congestion chaos around a major traffic hotspot may not be carried out for at least another 10 years.Consultant team Atkins recommended that junction 21 of the M5 should be moved southbound when it presented the Greater Bristol Strategic Transport Study last year.But a spokesman for the Government Office for the South West, one of the principal partners in the study, has confirmed the plans, which include linking the A370 to Weston via a new motorway bridge, will not happen until after 2016.The spokesman said: "These are long term plans and were always going to happen after 2016."At the moment junction 21 has two functions, a route for leaving and joining the motorway and joining the A370 to the roundabout."The idea is to try and keep the A370 into Weston separate with a bridge crossing the motorway, and relocating the current junction further south to reduce congestion. If the plans were taken up you would no longer be able to join the motorway where you can now."The junction would be moved south somewhere between where it is now and where the A371 to Banwell road crosses the motorway."A link road would also have to be built but we don't know where yet."It is now for local authorities and the Highways Agency to decide whether to take these plans forward."The transport study took two years to produce and looked at improvements which could be made up until 2031.The final recommendations were handed over last year to the Government Office for the South West, the Department for Transport, the Highways Agency, the South West Regional Development Agency and four councils, including North Somerset.The plans are currently being looked at by the local authorities before they decide whether to implement any of the ideas.