WORK on a road that that aims to help ease congestion on the M4 is set to be completed later this month.

The Queensway road will link the A48 near Queensway Meadows and Newport Retail Park in Spytty, Newport, with junction 23 of the M4 at Magor.

Work is yet to finish but the Argus has received reports of motorists being able to drive along the road that runs alongside the Llanwern Steelworks site.

However the Welsh Government said that the route, which was previously exclusively used to access the steelworks, is only open to authorised vehicles.

A spokesman said: "It is anticipated that all work required to open the road to the public will be complete by the end of August.

"Until this time the road is only open to authorised vehicles in order to gain access to local businesses and is signed accordingly."

The Welsh Government bought the Queensway road from former steelworks owner Corus in 2010 for £7.7 million.

Work has since taken place to convert the road into a dual carriageway and the road will allow for further diversions through Newport when there are problems on the city's M4 stretch.

Officials at the Welsh Government have sought for years to solve the bottleneck of the Newport M4.

After plans for the M4 Relief Road were shelved in 2009 the authority spent £7 million on a variable speed limit system that runs from Tredegar Park to the Coldra.

Officials aimed to reduce congestion and accidents by controlling speed during busy periods.

However the M4 Relief Road returned to the table this year with promises of possible borrowing powers from the UK Government.

A consultation on the road is due to start in September.