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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
World
Branwen Jones & Sara Odeen-Isbister

Family say they love living under a motorway and wouldn't change it for anything

Families living under a busy UK motorway say they love their unusual homes.

Living under the M4, which runs on 45ft-high concrete pillars, two family units say they wouldn't change their situation for anything.

The giant flyover, which was built in 1966, became known locally as "road on top of the town".

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Among the current residents is Joanna Care, who lives in the house she was brought up in with her husband Ritchie and their four-month old daughter Evelyn, reports WalesOnline.

Joanna, her sisters and their friends would spend most days playing under the flyovers, often riding their bikes and making ramps.

On Christmas Day, they'd all meet in the same spot to show off their new bikes and skateboards.

"This is where I've always lived. It's never been a negative thing for me," she said.

Joanna said her parents lived there when the road was built and would have had to give permission for the construction company to build in their garden.

"I don't think anybody would have been particularly happy about it. The garden at one point used to go down to the river," she explained.

Although the near-constant traffic is barely audible inside the house, it's much more apparent from the garden.

Joanna says she's got used to the noise, although her husband Ritchie hasn't.

Ritchie grew up in a quiet area by the beach and finds the traffic noise makes it difficult to sleep properly. He wakes 4am most mornings when the lorries start trundling past overhead.

Meanwhile, a bit further along the road lives Gabrielle Gillings with her two sons, Lennox, 6, and 21-month-old Keane.

Gabrielle, a healthcare support worker, has had her home for six years and before that lived on the other side of the bridge in Felindre, where she grew up and where her parents still are.

She said she realises the noise would most likely annoy those new to the area, but as she's always lived near the motorway she isn't bothered it.

"I wanted to still live in this area and I wouldn't want to move away from here. For me, this is just the norm and I enjoy living here," Gabrielle added.

The road, which saw 200 homes knocked down to accommodate it, helped cut down the travel time from Cardiff to Swansea by 20 minutes.

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