A465 Road - Major Upgrade Scheme

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 contract for Section 3 - Brynmawr to Tredegar was awarded to Carillion Plc in March 2010 with planning commencing soon after, it was announced in August 2012 that approval for the scheme to commence had been given and that construction should commend by the end of 2012 with completion due by early 2015. In keeping with the previously completed sections, a scheme website has been launched.

Planning for Section 2 - Gilwern to Brynmawr started in June 2011, with construction expected to begin in late 2014 until 2017. Further information can be found on the schemes website.

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. 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.