A4226 road

A4226 road
Major junctions
North end: Bonvilston
  A48 road
A4050 road
South end: Cardiff International Airport
Road network

Roads in the United Kingdom
Motorways • A and B road zones

The A4226 (better known as The Five Mile Lane) is a main road linking Bonvilston to Barry and Cardiff International Airport (CIA) in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.

Contents

Road course

First stage

The A4226 begins at the junction with the A48 road (Sycamore Cross) just east of Bonvilston and south of Gwern-y-Steeple and Peterston-Super-Ely. It heads in a southerly direction past numerous farms and country lanes leading off to hamlets such as Llancadle, Moulton, Walterston and Dyffryn Gardens etc, past the Welsh Hawking Centre until the junction with Port Road (leading to the A4050 road at Colcot roundabout) at Weycock Cross in northwestern Barry. This initial stage of the road is widely known locally as The Five Mile Lane, in fact it is nearer 4 miles today but historically the road extended along what is now Pontypridd Road in Barry to Romilly, roughly 5 miles in total.

Second stage

However, the A4226 route forks some 120 degrees at Weycock Cross to the right as one approaches the roundabout, where it continues in a westerly direction (continuation of Port Road West) along the northern perimeter of the airport until the entrance to the airport at the Tredogan roundabout. At this roundabout it becomes the B4265 road which leads to Llantwit Major and eventually to Bridgend and the turn off to the north leads to Penmark.

Maintenance

On July 1, 1970, the Weycock section of the road was formally upgraded to Principal Road Status after being widened and improved.[1]There is currently a proposal to upgrade this road to improve access to CIA. The improvements include adding straighter sections and other works to increase speeds along the road, and to extend the route designation to include the road between Sycamore Cross and the M4 Motorway Junction 34 (Miskin). The extension would also have upgrades including straighter sections to allow for faster speeds.[1]

Accidents

A location along the initial stage of the road with a sudden turn in the road at one of its narrowest points has gained notoriety over the years and has claimed the lives of several people in car accidents.

References