NEWPORT may be hit by more roadworks and traffic closures than almost any town in Wales - but traffic jams are still much less widespread than in most British cities.

Armed with a stopwatch, the Argus set out to drive through Newport's most congested traffic routes in the rush-hour to find out how bad the jams are.

We set off at 5pm along Cardiff Road from the Harlech retail park into the city centre, through the controversial traffic-lights near the Royal Gwent, and were surprised to find ourselves turning down Kingsway within seven minutes.

A queue of traffic along Kingsway took three minutes to negotiate, and in a further two minutes we were at the Harlequin roundabout in Malpas.

Turning back to sample the traffic in Newport city centre, we retraced our route and in less than three minutes we had gone back along the Kingsway past Newport Centre.

But after a left turn to cross the George Street suspension bridge we hit our first serious jam.

Nevertheless, by the time we turned onto Corporation Road towards the cenotaph, the stopwatch revealed the trip was less than four minutes. Corporation Road was deserted, and within six and a half minutes we had crossed the Town Bridge, gone through Clarence Place and were headed down Chepstow Road to the Coldra roundabout.

Eight minutes later we were at Junction 24 to take the M4 back across Newport. By 5.39pm we were back at the Argus office. Just 40 minutes had taken us through Newport's busiest routes - some of them twice. Maybe we had a lucky day. Or maybe the time we spend queuing isn't quite as long when measured by a stopwatch as it seems when you're seething behind the wheel.