Fri, 28th August Cardiff 18°
Nation.Cymru wordmark
Advertisement

News

£1-4bn road project set for completion next summer

By Mark Mansfield
The A465 section 5 and 6 - Dowlais

A major road project, described as one of largest and most technically challenging in the UK, is set to be completed in Wales this summer.

Funded by the Welsh Government, the £1-4bn A465 (Hirwaun to Dowlais) project consists of 17.7km of new dual carriageway, 6.1km of sideroads, more than 14km of active travel routes, 38 new culverts, 30 new bridges and 28 retaining walls.

As well as connecting communities by linking the Valleys and south and west Wales to the English Midlands and beyond, the scheme has also created more than 2,000 new jobs with over half of those employed living in the local area.

[mid-content-banner]

Ecological impacts

To mitigate the ecological impacts of the project a series of measures have been undertaken.

New habitats have been created for species including great crested newt and marsh fritillary butterfly and coppiced stools and topsoil from ancient woodland impacted by the project has been relocated. More than 55,000 trees have been planted in the local area, with a total of 120,000 expected to be planted by the end of the scheme.

Speaking on a visit to the A465 project, Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales, Ken Skates said: “Fixing our roads is a key priority for us. We’ve spent £1bn fixing and improving our roads since 2021, including more than £250m in the past year.

“This project is an incredibly impressive piece of engineering and a fantastic example of how targeted investment in road infrastructure can deliver on many levels, providing jobs for the local community, improving accessibility, supporting education and skills, alongside delivering environmental benefits.

“It’s been a complex project which has not been without its challenges, and I would like to thank everyone who has played their part in helping us to deliver one of the largest road projects in the UK.”

For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.

Get more trusted Welsh news

Choose Nation.Cymru as a preferred source in Google News to see more of our journalism.

Choose Nation.Cymru as a preferred source in Google News

12 comments

Jeff

Been a while. Used to be a good route to Swansea from the midlands pre road works (and vice versa, but holds ups at the usual places), decent route now back on the cards.

Reply
Howie

I travel on the Brynmawr to Abergavenny stretch quite regular it has been restricted to 50mph for most of time, many times in the day I have been on the road and not seen another vehicle. Main use I have seen is local traffic, the western stretch around Neath and Eastern around Abergavenny I suspect Merthyr stretch will be same once completed. It takes very little traffic from M4 as it was proposed to do. Once fully completed may change. The £1.4bn, £40m a year payments to private contractors for 30 years for the final stretch, with construction cost of £590m out of the £1.4bn will restrict finance for other capital projects in Wales, the Abergavenny Clydach Gorge cost twice as much as budgeted at £340m. Overall £2bn will be final price tag. I hope it is worth it.

Reply
Richard Carpenter

Who would have thought that that sort of money would be spent on a project in Wales? I live near Abergavenny and use the road virtually everyday, I can remember the many fatalities on the road between Abergavenny and Tredegar, on the basis of lives saved alone it has already proved to be worth the £2bn, the plus side is that it is a first class route to drive.

Reply
Howie

Yes sadly there were many fatalities, mainly in stretches with 3rd overtaking lane. I remember the Argus running a piece about it, 100 fatalities over 25 years, but in 2009 the WG had a report from Scotland that showed when a similar road there had a speed camera strategy implemented it cut fatalities markedly, Something that wasn't done on that stretch until rebuild was complete.

Reply
hdavies15

When finished it should occur to those of us living west of Port Talbot, or even Bridgend that joining the A465 at its west end makes sense if you are heading for anywhere north of Monmouth. Same goes for a lot of valley residents with a similar journey in mind, head up to Dowlais or other similar junctions along the A465. Maybe we'll manage to ease up some of the pressure on M4 at Brynglas.

Reply
Vale Cymru

The 50mph limit would make it a real pain.

Reply
Vale Cymru

Seems totally bonkers to spend £2bn and restrict it to 50mph and expect traffic to use it.

Reply
William Robson

Why did the Welsh government allow the first stage to overrun on time and cost. Have we received value for money. you cannot blame the conservatives for this mess

Reply
Ap Kenneth

You could blame the governments in the 1960s who built a three lane road when even then it shold have been built as a dual carriageway. If by first stage you mean Brynmawr to Abergavenny then the funding model was that Welsh Government paid a fixed price to own outright but did contractors underbid by underestimating the works required in order to get the contract and up the costs as they went along. Alternatively in the case of Dowlais to Hirwaun where the contractors take the risk of the building and engineering but the Welsh Government land up paying a annual rent you could argue you get a better road but at an inflated cost. Which ever model you choose I think this road will get more use than the A55 across Ynys Mon to Holyhead which is still being paid for under this subscription model and in 5 years will anyone care?

Reply
Howie

The Welsh Govt put it down to geography and geology, fundamental issues I would have thought when scoping the project beforehand, the other was a issue with VAT that became unrecoverable.

Reply
Frank

£1-4bn is quite a wide estimate of cost!!

Reply
Vale Cymru

This summer or Next summer???

Reply

Leave a reply

Replying to Ap Kenneth Cancel

You could blame the governments in the 1960s who built a three lane road when even then it shold have been built as a dual carriageway. If by first stage you mean Brynmawr to Abergavenny then the funding model was that Welsh Government pai...

Comments are reviewed before they appear.