M32 motorway along the viaduct, while surveying work was carried out in 2016 during the Metrobus junction refurbishments. The M32 has been criticised for severing longstanding links in Bristol. Older residents have claimed that formerly close-knit communities such as Easton have been shut off by the imposing concrete barriers next to the motorway. It has been criticised for running alongside the grounds of Stoke Park, spoiling the local atmosphere and requiring part of the estate including the Duchess Pond to be demolished. In 2008, Jeremy Isaacs claimed the motorway was a reason that Bristol did not win the European Capital of Culture
M32 motorway opened by the Secretary of State for Transport, John Peyton in July 1970. The total cost was £3 million (now £ million). In 1972, a polystyrene storage depot on Muller Road near junction 2 caught fire, leading to the closure of the southbound M32 for six days. The third section was the most technically demanding, as it ran through heavily built-up urban areas and required numerous properties to be demolished, along with the "Thirteen-arch viaduct" near Stapleton Road that was built in 1874. Work was delayed owing to the Three-Day Week industrial action in 1974, and further because of a