A465 road

The A465 is a major road in south Wales. It is more commonly known as the Heads of the Valleys Road because it joins together the north ends (or 'heads') of the South Wales Valleys. It approximately follows the southern boundary of the Brecon Beacons National Park, and an Ordnance Survey Pathfinder Guide describes it as the unofficial border between rural and industrial South Wales.^[1]

Route

The A465 runs southwest from Bromyard towards Hereford. It joins the A4103 just before Hereford. It starts again at Hereford, crosses the Wales-England border over the River Monnow, continues south to Abergavenny and Brynmawr, then continues west along the heads of the valleys, past Ebbw Vale, Tredegar, Rhymney, Merthyr Tydfil and Hirwaun and Glynneath. Near Glynneath, the road heads down along the floor of the Vale of Neath bypassing Resolven, Neath and Skewen before terminating at its junction with the M4 motorway, junction 43, at Llandarcy.

Up until 1996, the A465 crossed the Vale of Neath in what is now designated the B4242 between Glynnneath and Aberdulais. The high car accident rate on this stretch was one of the factors leading to the new dual carriageway section, the "Missing Link" being constructed. The A465 is now a dual carriageway all the way between Hirwaun and Llandarcy.^[2][3]

High point

The highest point (signposted) of 1,350 feet (410 m) is on the Ebbw Vale section. It now has a new dual carriageway and slip roads between Dowlais Top and Tredegar via Rhymney. At Dowlais Top there are link roads such as the A4060, which runs down to the south end of Merthyr Tydfil and links with the A470, and the A4054 which goes through Merthyr Vale and Aberfan. Another link is the A4102 which leads into Dowlais and Merthyr Tydfil Town Centre. Finally, the A465 passes Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil (great view of Pen Y Fan from here), then continues to Cefn Coed y cymmer (North End of Merthyr Tydfil), then leads to the A470 link and then continues down the west side of the valley to Neath.

Major upgrade scheme

In 1994, the possibility was raised of upgrading the whole of the A465 to 2-lane dual carriageway standard with grade-separated junctions (and extra climbing lanes on certain hills) between Abergavenny and Hirwaun, a 25-mile (40 km) stretch connecting the existing A465 dual-carriageway link to Swansea and the M4 motorway to the A40 which is an important part of the link to the M50 motorway and much of England.

Much of the land on the route is undulating, but despite this, the preferred route alignment is considered to be high standard and will allow most of the route to have the national speed limit applying—70 mph (110 km/h) for cars, 60 mph (97 km/h) for coaches and 50 mph (80 km/h) for HGVs.

The scheme was split up into 7 sections, with sections 6 and 7 later being combined into a single scheme for the purposes of construction. The Upgrade sections are:

1. Abergavenny to Gilwern
2. Gilwern to Brynmawr
3. Brynmawr to Tredegar
4. Tredegar to Dowlais Top
5. Dowlais Top to A470 Junction
6. A470 Junction to Baverstock's
7. Baverstock's to Hirwaun

The section between Llandarcy and Hirwaun is already dual carriageway. Construction works began on section 4 (Tredegar to Dowlais Top) in early spring 2002, and were completed by November 2004. Construction of section 1 (Abergavenny to Gilwern) began in February 2005. This section is a largely on-line upgrade of the existing single-carriageway road. This section was completed on 22 May 2008.

The National Transport Plan, published in March 2010, expected Brynmawr to Tredegar to be completed by 2014 and Gilwen to Brynmawr started by the same date. The remaining sections from Dowlais Top to the A470, and from the A470 to Hirwaun were to be completed by 2020.^[4] Speaking in the Senedd in August 2010, the First Minister said completion of the A465 upgrade was the ultimate solution to the high number of casualties on the road.^[5]

References

External links

• Welsh Assembly Government: A465 dualling scheme