A48 Road

A48 Road

The A48 is a major trunk road in Great Britain. It runs from the A40 at Highnam 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Gloucester to the A40 at Carmarthen. Before the construction of the M4 motorway and the first Severn Bridge in the mid 1960s it was the principal route between South Wales and South West England. For most of its journey through South Wales, it runs almost parallel to its successor. Before the construction of the Second Severn Crossing, during times of high winds at the Severn Bridge the A48 was used as part of the diversion route, and is still marked as a Holiday Route.

From Gloucester, the A48 runs through the villages of Minsterworth, Westbury-on-Severn, connects to a link road to Cinderford in the Forest of Dean then through Newnham, Blakeney and bypassing the town of Lydney (the bypass was built in the 1990s) on the west bank of the River Severn. Crossing the Wales-England border at Chepstow and continuing west close to the South Wales coast, it connects Newport, Cardiff, Cowbridge, Bridgend, Pyle, Port Talbot, Neath, Swansea before terminating at the junction with the A40 near the centre of Carmarthen.

There is a motorway section (the A48(M)) which is a spur from the M4 running from junction 29 on the west side of Newport. The A48(M) has the unusual feature of having no junction options at both ends – it leads into limited-access junctions. Near the east of Cardiff, at St Mellons, it ends by flowing onto the A48 (Eastern Avenue) and through Cardiff. It is 2 miles (3.2 km) long and is a 2-lane motorway throughout its length. At St Mellons it runs continuously into a further 6 miles (9.7 km) of the dual-carriageway A48, which also features (albeit narrow) hard shoulders. The original A48 continues to link Newport and Cardiff.

Just before Junction 44 of the M4 motorway, there is an abandoned dual carriageway trunk road, just to the left side of the motorway. This formerly was home to two service stations, both of which have been demolished.