A55 road

A55 road

The A55 at Warren Mountain.
Route information
Part of
Length: 87 mi (140 km)
Major junctions
East end: Chester
West end: Holyhead
Location
Primary
destinations
:
Conwy
Bangor
Road network

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

The A55, also known as the North Wales Expressway, is a major road in Britain. Its entire length is a dual carriageway primary route, with the exception of the point where it crosses the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Strait. All junctions are grade separated except for two roundabouts — one east of Penmaenmawr and one in Llanfairfechan. The road originally ran from Chester to Bangor but was extended parallel to the A5 across Anglesey right into Holyhead Docks in 2001. The road improvements have been part funded with European money, under the Trans-European Networks programme, as the route is designated part of Euroroute E22 (Holyhead - Leeds - Amsterdam - Hamburg - Malmoe - Riga - Moscow - Perm - Ekaterinburg - Ishim).

Contents

Route

The Chester Southerly Bypass

The A55 runs west from its junction with the M53 motorway near Chester, where it is known as the Chester Southerly Bypass, crossing the River Dee and the Welsh border before passing close to Broughton then passing north of Buckley and Northop. There is a major climb westbound between Broughton and Buckley (Junctions 35a to 35) though with no crawler lane. There is a difficult junction with the A494 at Junction 34/33b and the road briefly has a three lane section as traffic joins from Queensferry and leaves towards Mold. In the eastbound direction there is also a short three lane section for the same reason. In the eastbound direction there is also a 270 degree speed limited single lane curve to climb up and over the A55/A494. There were plans that might have affected this often congested junction as part of the A494 Queensferry to Ewloe improvement but the Welsh Assembly Government rejected these on 26 March 2008 as being of too large a scale.[1]

Ewloe to Colwyn Bay

From Ewloe, the road is relatively flat until after Northop when it climbs up onto the flanks of Halkyn Mountain range, passing to the southwest of Holywell with major climbs between Northop and Halkyn (Junctions 33 and 32b) and Halkyn and Holywell Summit (Junctions 32 and 31). This section of road is notorious for poor weather conditions including fog, ice and snow in winter months. In fine weather, however there are extensive views over the River Dee estuary to the Wirral Peninsula, Liverpool and beyond. The highest part of the road is in the vicinity of Brynford at around 790 feet (240 m). The steep descent towards St Asaph is down the new Rhuallt Hill (Junctions 29 to 28), which also provides the first views of the mountains of Snowdonia in the far distance. There is a crawler lane on Rhuallt Hill for eastbound traffic. The road bypasses St Asaph to the north, and runs past Bodelwyddan and Abergele to reach the North Wales coast at Pensarn (Junction 23A). From here onwards to Bangor, the route is close to the North Wales Coast railway.

Colwyn Bay Bypass

Part of the route (Junction 23) Llanddulas to (Junction 17) Conwy is signed as a 70 mph (110 km/h) speed limit (as opposed to most of the other sections of the A55, which are the National Speed Limit) and is a non-motorway special road, which has restrictions on access by pedestrian and other traffic, similar to the restrictions applied to a motorway. There is also a stretch passing through Colwyn Bay (Old Colwyn to Mochdre) signed as a 50 mph (80 km/h) limit. These restrictions are imposed as added safety precautions because the slip-roads in this stretch are unusually short because of the difficulty of fitting the road into a very narrow area of land, and, due to the road underpassing much of the town, to reduce road surface noise levels. The section from west of Colwyn Bay railway station to the Station Road overbridge at Mochdre was constructed on the trackbed of the North Wales Coast railway. The former 4 track railway was reduced to the two more northerly tracks to make space for the road.

The Conwy Bypass

The crossing of the estuary of the River Conwy is by means of an immersed tube tunnel, the first of its kind constructed in the United Kingdom.[2]

The decision to construct an immersed tube tunnel bypass followed an extensive public consultation, named the Collcon Feasibility Study. This ruled out another bridge by the castle on aesthetic grounds, since it would have damaged the view of the world heritage site Conwy Castle, and the two bridges by Robert Stephenson and Thomas Telford. Another alternative bridge crossing was proposed at Deganwy, but this too was ruled out for aesthetic reasons. An inland alternative with heavy grades which would have passed over Bwlch y Ddeufaen pass at 430 metres (1,410 ft), following the old Roman road, was also worked up but rejected for cost and utility reasons.

The tunnel was constructed by a Costain/Tarmac Construction joint venture,[3] as pre-formed concrete sections, and then floated into position over a pre-prepared trench in the bed of the estuary. The 3million tonnes of silt and mud extracted to create the trench in which the tunnel sections sat, were vacuumed to one side of the construction site, as to let them drift down river would have harmed the large mussel fishing beds downstream. The silt was deposited upstream of the bridge at Conwy which created a large new area of low lying land which was subsequently given to the RSPB for a wildlife preserve. The casting basin for the tunnel sections was later converted into a new marina in the lower estuary. Because of the valuable fishery in the river and also because of the history of heavy metal mining in the catchment of the river, extensive ecological assessments were made both prior to the construction of the tunnel and subsequently. These studies finally concluded that no significant environmental damage had been caused.

After five years of construction, the tunnel was opened in October 1991. It initially had an advisory 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) speed limit, but this was dropped in 2007 as accidents were rare in the tunnels.

Pen-y-clip and Penmaenbach tunnels

The construction of the coastal section of the road involved major civil engineering works, with hard rock tunnels passing through the cliffs in two places. In the westbound direction both the Penmaenbach and the Pen-y-clip tunnels (east and west of Penmaenmawr respectively) were initially subject to advisory 50mph speed limits but these were lifted in 2007 as there had been few accidents. In the Eastbound direction, the road still uses the 1930s cliffhugging route at both locations. The eastbound carriageway at Penmaenbach is subject to a 30 mph (50 km/h) speed limit due to sharp curves and double white lines nominally preclude lane changing. Plans to rectify the awkward alignment by building another tunnel parallel to the current westbound tunnel (as originally intended when the westbound tunnel was proposed) have been discussed for several years. The original Telford road around the cliffs is now a cycleway at both locations although at Pen-y-Clip it cannot be used in an easterly direction without cycling the wrong way along the westbound carriageway. Recent work (late 2007) at Penmaenbach eastbound has seen the erection of gantries to close lanes when bidirectional working is in place.

Penmaenmawr to Anglesey

Some sections of the rest of the route are of lower standard than that of those further east. Some traffic leaves for major holiday destinations such as Caernarfon or the Llŷn Peninsula, though much continues on to the port of Holyhead. As such part of the route is not classed as clearway and has two at grade junctions (roundabouts), Penmaenmawr (Junction 16) and Llanfairfechan (Junction 15). The Bangor bypass, in which the road previously terminated and became the A5 regains high standards and is such through the Anglesey section, bar the Britannia Bridge, which is a single carriageway deck above the North Wales Coast railway over the Menai Strait. In 2007 the Welsh Assembly Government undertook a consultation to determine which of four options would be preferred for a second crossing. This section intersects with the A487 towards Caernarfon, and the west coast of North Wales.

Anglesey

The final section of the A55 to be constructed was the Anglesey section. This 20 mile (32 km) section from the end of the Llanfairpwll bypass to Holyhead Harbour was constructed as Private Finance Initiative scheme where the builders, a Carillion / John Laing joint venture, earn a shadow toll based on usage and lane availability. They also have to maintain the road for the extended period of their shadow toll agreement. When travelling eastbound along this section there are fine views of Snowdonia. The approach to Holyhead required major work with a new section over the sea paralleling the Stanley Embankment that carries the original A5 and the North Wales Coast railway.

Planned improvements

The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) published its National Transport Plan in July 2009. [4] This includes mention of improvements to the A55 including the possible removal of the two roundabouts at Penmaenmawr and Llanfairfechan.

History

The A55 partly follows the alignment of the Roman road from Chester (Deva) to Caernarfon (Segontium), particularly from Junction 31 to 30 and Junction 13 to 12. Between Chester and Holywell the alignment of this road is uncertain and between St. Asaph and Abergele, the Roman road followed an inland route avoiding the difficulties of the crossing of the Conwy estuary and the cliffs at Penmaenbach and Pen-y-Clip.

A55 opening dates of major improvements

Junctions

A55 Road
km Westbound exits (B Carriageway) Junction Eastbound exits (A Carriageway)
0.0 Holyhead Ferry Port Terminus
[coord 1]
Start of Road
0.5 Holyhead Town centre A5154
Amlwch A5 (A5025)
Road
junction
Holyhead Town centre A5154
Amlwch A5 (A5025)
0.7 Trearddur Bay B4545 J1
Roundabout
Trearddur Bay B4545
1.2
2.0
A5153 J2 A5153
7.1
7.7
Caergeiliog, Valley A5
Amlwch A5025
J3 Caergeiliog, Valley A5
Amlwch A5025
9.6
10.2
Caergeiliog, RAF Valley, Bryngwran A5 J4 Caergeiliog, RAF Valley, Bryngwran A5
14.0
14.6
Bryngwran, Gwalchmai A5
Rhosneigr A4080
J5 Bryngwran, Gwalchmai A5
Rhosneigr A4080
23.2
24.0
Pentre Berw, Gwalchmai A5
Llangefni A5114
J6 Pentre Berw A5
Llangefni A5114
27.8
28.6
Gaerwen A5152 J7 Gaerwen A5152
31.3 No access
Llanfair PG A5
J7A No exit
Access only
32.9
33.4
Llanfair PG, Benllech A5025 J8 Llanfair PG, Benllech A5025
33.8 No access
Llanfair PG, Menai Bridge A5
J8A No exit
Access only
34.1
34,4
Britannia Bridge Bridge
[coord 2]
Britannia Bridge
35.3
35.6
Bangor, Menai Bridge, Ysbyty Gwynedd A487 J9 Caernarfon, Menai Bridge, Ysbyty Gwynedd A487
36.4
37.0
Caernarfon, Bangor A4087 J10 Bangor A4087
40.3
40.9
Bangor, Bethesda A5
B4366
J11 Bethesda A5
B4366
43.6
44.2
Talybont J12 Talybont
47.2
47.5
Abergwyngregyn J13 Abergwyngregyn
48.9
49.2
Llanfairfechan J14 Llanfairfechan
51.7 Llanfairfechan J15
Roundabout
Llanfairfechan
52.8
53.7
Pen-y-Clip Westbound Tunnel (930 m)[5] Tunnel Two short tunnels
53.8
54.2
access only
No exit
J15A Penmaenmawr
56.2 Penmaenmawr J16
Roundabout
Penmaenmawr
57.8
57.8
Dwygyfylchi J16A No exit
58.4
59.1
Penmaenbach Westbound Tunnel (658 m)[5] Tunnel Penmaenbach Eastbound Headland Tunnel(172 m)[5]
60.4
61.0
Conwy A547 J17 Conwy A547
61.8
62.9
Conwy Road Tunnel (1080 m)[5]
Restictions apply
Tunnel
[coord 3]
Conwy Road Tunnel
Restictions apply
63.6
64.2
Conwy (A547) J18 Llandudno Junction A546
64.8
65.5
Llandudno, Llanrwst A470
Llandudno Junction
J19 Llandudno, Llanrwst A470
Colwyn Bay (A547)
Llandudno Junction
68.7
69.8
Colwyn Bay, Mochdre, Penrhyn Bay B5115 J20 Colwyn Bay, Mochdre, Penrhyn Bay B5115
70.6
71.0
Colwyn Bay A547 J21 Colwyn Bay A547
71.5
72.0
Old Colwyn A547 J22 Old Colwyn A547
Start of Special road End of Special road
76.0
76.1
Llanddulas A547
Prohibited Traffic
J23 Llanddulas A547
80.0
80.4
Access only
No exit
J23A Pensarn, Abergele A548
No access
81.2
81.9
Abergele, Rhuddlan A547 J24 Abergele, Rhuddlan A547
84.6 no access
St. George, Towyn
J24A No exit
no access
86.7
86.8
Bodelwyddan, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd J25 Bodelwyddan, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd
88.2
88.8
St Asaph Business Park J26 St Asaph Business Park
89.9
90.6
St Asaph, Trefnant, Denbigh, Rhuddlan, Rhyl A525 J27 St Asaph,Trefnant, Denbigh, Rhuddlan, Rhyl A525
91.6
91.6
St Asaph A525 J27A No exit
No access
92.9
93.2
Rhuallt, Rhuddlan B5429 J28 Rhuallt B5429
96.7
97.3
Rhuallt J29 Rhuallt
99.0
99.3
Pen-y-Cefn J30 Pen-y-Cefn
100.3
100.8
Trelawnyd A5151
Caerwys B5122
J31 Holywell A5151
Caerwys B5122
108.7
108.8
no access
Holywell A5026
J32 Holywell A5026
Halkyn, Pentre Halkyn
No access
109.3
109.9
Pentre Halkyn J32A No exit
Access only
111.3
111.4
Halkyn J32B No exit
No access
114.6
115.3
Northop, Flint, A548 Coast Road A5119 J33 Northop, Flint, Mold A5119
116.5 No access
Connah's Quay B5126
J33A No exit
No access
117.8
117.9
No exit Northop Hall
120.0 No access
Mold A494
J33B No exit
Access only
120.5
128.8
Ewloe, Queensferry A494
Manchester (M56)
J34
"Totso"[See notes]
Ewloe, Queensferry A494
Manchester (M56)
123.1
123.6
Hawarden, Buckley, Corwen A550 J35 Hawarden, Wrexham A550
125.3
125.9
Penyffordd J35A Broughton, Saltney A5104
128.5 no access
Broughton (A5104)
No exit
Access only
128.6 Entry into England Border Entry into Wales
Wrexham, Chester A483 J36 Wrexham, Chester A483
Access only
No exit
J36a Chester A5115
Whitchurch (A41)
No access
Chester
Nantwich, Northwich A51
Whitchurch (A41)
J37 Chester
Nantwich, Northwich A51
Start of road M53 J12
[coord 4]
Chester, Helsby A56
Non-motorway traffic
Chester, Helsby A56 Road continues as M53 to Wallasey
Notes
  • Data[6] from location marker posts are used to provide distance and carriageway identification information. Where a junction spans several hundred metres and the data is available, both the start and finish values for the junction are shown.
  • Totso = "Turn off to stay on" meaning that the driver must leave the main carriageway to stay on the specified (A55) route.
     Motorway •      Primary road •      Secondary road
     Concurrency terminus     Closed/Former     Incomplete access     Unopened
Coordinate list
  1. ^ Start of A55 - Holyhead Ferry Port
  2. ^ Britannia Bridge - crosses the Menai Straits
  3. ^ Conwy Tunnel - Crossing of the Conwy Estuary
  4. ^ End of the A55 - becomes the M53

References

External links