Heads of the Valleys road project nearing completion after 23 years

There simply isn’t enough whitewash in Wales to do justice to this, though this article tries hard. The last phase of the dualling of the A465 from Llandarcy to Abergavenny has, like its immediate predecessors – between Dowlais Top and Abergavenny – left knowledgeable spectators open-mouthed at the criminal waste of public monies from project inception, through design and being on site, to – perhaps – completion one day. Which is certainly nowhere near yet. What was needed was another lane and a central barrier on an already three lane road, with some grade separation in places. What we got – and the first section of dual carriageway was built in the 1970’s – over fifty years ago – was a dragged-out piece of unwelcome and unnecessary megalomania that has planet-smashed its way across Wales, decade after decade. A dual carriageway with 70mph+ design parameters – it’s better aligned than most UK motorways in much more challenging terrain – and yet with a lower speed limit in places than the road it replaced. And five decades plus to deliver it at fifty times the cost of an eighteen month contract for an extra lane. Well. The Assembly can be proud of that. I doubt if many others will be. The original road might have been outdated a decade after it was built 1960-3, but it only took three years for the whole length.

owen jordan January 6, 2025 at 12:51