THE commission set up to find alternatives to the M4 relief road in Newport will take major steps forward this year.

The latest update from the South East Wales Transport Commission has promised improved access for the city's railway and bus stations, as well as the reconfiguration of a major city roundabout.

Plans for the transformation of Old Green Roundabout, in central Newport, were unveiled last week and are currently out for public consultation.

The commission is focusing on making the city's railway station "a hub for sustainable travel, through seamless interchange between rail, bus, cycling and walking infrastructure, which connects to the city centre and surrounding neighbourhoods".

That means plans will include options to "improve bus, walking and cycling access to Newport Central railway station, along Queensway, and through to the riverfront" where the city's main bus stations are located.

South Wales Argus: Map showing Newport city centre and the location of key transport areas.Map showing Newport city centre and the location of key transport areas. (Image: Google (original map))

Alongside ongoing work on the new Devon Place footbridge - due to open "early" this year - the work will make walking, cycling and public transport "more attractive, while also providing easier and quicker connections to the rail network", the commission said.

Any changes to Old Green Roundabout, meanwhile, will "include opportunities for the long-term future of the murals" there which celebrate the city's industrial past.

What else is the commission planning?

Set up in 2019 after Mark Drakeford cancelled the M4 relief road project, the commission was tasked with finding other ways to improve congestion around Newport and has so far promoted rail investment as the best way to achieve a "network of alternatives" to sitting in traffic jams on the motorway.

It has primarily focused on the M4 itself and how to improve journeys for people travelling between Newport and the neighbouring cities of Cardiff and Newport - a route thousands of commuters take each day.

South Wales Argus: There could eventually be a series of railway stations opened in Newport, like this artist's impression of a Newport West station.There could eventually be a series of railway stations opened in Newport, like this artist's impression of a Newport West station.

Improvements to the South Wales Main Line will increase the capacity for rail journeys, and will be bolstered by the opening of a handful of new stations between Cardiff and the border, in plans endorsed by the Welsh Government and supported by Westminster, though some questions remain over who will fund these projects.

But the commission has also recognised the need for changes within Newport itself, and believes the work in central Newport will "also enable further improvements to bus, cycling and walking routes elsewhere in the city".

Routes into the city centre along Cardiff Road and Malpas Road have been earmarked for "work to improve bus reliability and cycling access".