A4226 road
The A4226 is a main road linking Bonvilston to Barry and Cardiff International Airport in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The A4226 begins at the junction with the A48 road just east of Bonvilston and south of Gwern-y-Steeple and Peterston-Super-Ely, it heads in a southerly direction past numerous farms and country lanes leading off to hamlets such as Llancadle, Moulton and Dyffryn Gardens etc. past the Welsh Hawking Centre until the junction with Port Road at Weycock Cross in northwestern Barry. This initial stage of the road is known locally as The Five Mile Lane, in fact it is nearer 4 miles today but the road extended along what is now Pontypridd Road in Barry to Romilly 5 miles in total. However, the A4226 route forks some 120 degrees at Weycock Cross to the right as one approaches the roundabout, where it continues in a westerly direction along the northern perimeter of the airport until the entrance to the airport at the Tredogan roundabout. At this roundabout it becomes the B4265 road which leads to Llantwit Major and to Bridgend and the turn off to the north leads to Penmark.
On 1 July 1970, the Weycock section of the road was formally upgraded to Principal Road Status after being widened and improved. There is a proposal to upgrade this road to improve access to CIA; the improvements include adding straighter sections and other works to increase speeds along the road, to extend the route designation to include the road between Sycamore Cross and the M4 Motorway Junction 34. The extension would have upgrades including straighter sections to allow for faster speeds
Roads in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has a network of roads, of varied quality and capacity, totalling about 262,300 miles. Road distances are shown in miles or yards and UK speed limits are indicated in miles per hour or by the use of the national speed limit symbol; some vehicle categories have various lower maximum limits enforced by speed limiters. Enforcement of UK road speed limits uses speed guns, automated in-vehicle systems and automated roadside traffic cameras. A unified numbering system is in place for Great Britain, whilst in Northern Ireland, there is no available explanation for the allocation of road numbers; the earliest engineered roads were built during the British Iron Age. The road network was expanded during the Roman occupation; some of these survive and others were lost. New roads were added from the 17th century onwards. Whilst control has been transferred from local to central bodies and back again, current management and development of the road network is shared between local authorities, the devolved administrations of Scotland and Northern Ireland and Highways England.
Certain aspects of the legal framework remain under the competence of the United Kingdom parliament. Although some roads have much older origins, the network was subject to major development from the 1950s to the mid-1990s. From construction of roads has become controversial with direct action campaigns by environmentalists in opposition; the UK has a road network totalling about 262,300 miles of paved roads—246,500 miles in Great Britain and 15,800 miles in Northern Ireland. Responsibility for the road network differs between non trunk routes. Trunk roads, which are the most important roads, are administered by Highways England in England, Transport Scotland in Scotland, the North and Mid Wales Trunk Road Agent, South Wales Trunk Road Agent in Wales. England's 6,500 miles of trunk roads account for 50 % of lorry travel. Scotland has accounting for 35 % of all road journeys and over 50 % of lorry movements. Wales has 1,000 miles of trunk roads. In London, Transport for London is responsible for all trunk roads and other major roads, which are part of the Transport for London Road Network.
All other roads are the responsibility of unitary authority. In Northern Ireland, the Roads Service Northern Ireland is responsible for all 5,592 miles roads; the pan-British total is 15,260 miles. Whilst they are trunk roads, several motorways are the responsibility of local authorities, for example the M275. Since 2008, location marker posts have appeared on motorways and major A roads in England, situated at intervals of 500 metres; these repeat the information given on the co-sited surveyors' marker post which, since the 1960s, have reported distances on such roads in kilometres from a datum—usually the start of the road, or the planned start-point of the road. Numbered roads in the UK are signed as M, A, or B roads, as well as various categories of more minor roads: for internal purposes, local authorities may use C, D and U; each road is given a number, combined with the prefix, for example M40, A40 and B1110, although their informal or traditional names may still be used or heard occasionally: for instance, the Great North Road and the Great Cambridge Road.
These numbers follow a zonal system. There is no available explanation for the allocation of road numbers in Northern Ireland; the majority of the major inter-urban routes are motorways, are designed to carry long distance traffic. The next category is the A roads. A primary route is defined as:...a route, not being a route comprising any part of a motorway, in respect of which the Secretary of State — in the case of a trunk road is of the opinion, in any other case after consultation with the traffic authority for the road comprised in the route is of the opinion, that it provides the most satisfactory route for through traffic between places of traffic importance A new standard was set in April 2015 to formally designate certain high-quality routes as Expressways, but whether this will result in any existing road classifications changing is unclear. Primary destinations are cities and large towns, to which, as a result of their size, a high volume of traffic is expected to go. However, in rural areas, smaller towns or villages may be given primary status if located at junctions of significant roads: for example, Llangurig in Wales and Crianlarich in Scotland.
As a further example, Scotch Corner in northern England is not a village—merely a hotel and a few other buildings—yet has the status of a primary destination due to its location at the interchange of the A1 and A66 roads. For similar reasons, certain airports, sea ports and tunnels have been designated as primary destinations; the status of both primary destinations and roads is maintained by the Department for Transport in combination with the Highways Agency in England and Wales and the Scottish Government in Scotland. The concept of primary roads was introduced in the 1960s as part of a national reclassification of roads. Regional destinations are used on long distance routes throughout the country alongside primary destinations, they are displayed on signs in capitals to dis
A48(M) motorway
The A48 motorway in Wales links Cardiff with Newport. It is a 2 miles long, M4 spur. At St Mellons, it runs continuously into the dual-carriageway A48, which features hard shoulders; the A48 has no junctions and opened in 1977. The M4 was extended from junction 29 in 1980; the 6-mile Port Talbot bypass which opened in 1966, was numbered A48 before its incorporation into the westward extension of the M4 in the 1970s. Some maps show the Morriston bypass section of the M4 as having been numbered A48, although whether this number was used on the ground has been questioned. Media related to A48 motorway at Wikimedia Commons CBRD Motorway Database – A48 Pathetic Motorways – A48 Google aerial shot of abandoned carriageway
Highnam
Highnam is a village and civil parish on the outskirts of the city of Gloucester. It is three miles northwest of the city on the A40, on its way to Ross, west of Alney Island and Over Bridge. Connected by Segregated Bicycle Paths via Over Bridge and Alney Island to Gloucester; the parish includes the villages of Over. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 2,014. Highnam was made up of farm land, which explains some of its street names; as a village, Highnam is small, containing a few social amenities. Its contents include the Church of the Holy Innocents, a school, a village hall, a day nursery, a village shop and a doctor's surgery; the Arnold family were Lords of the Manor in the sixteenth century- the best known member of the family is Sir Nicholas Arnold, Lord Deputy of Ireland. The wealthy artist and collector Thomas Gambier Parry purchased the Highnam Court estate in 1837, he laid out the Highnam Court gardens. Highnam Court gardens are now open to the public, his son, the composer Hubert Parry, learnt to play the organ in the church.
Highnam has a large business park just outside the main village. Aside from buildings, it is home to both football and cricket teams Highnam Court Cricket Club and Beavers, Cubs and Brownies groups. A new feature in 2007 was the addition of a Youth Café. Highnam Woods to the west of the village are managed by the RSPB as a nature reserve, Lassington Woods are to the east of the village; the church of the Holy Innocents, Highnam was constructed between 1849 and 1851 at the request of Thomas Gambier Parry in memory of his first wife and those of his children who died at an early age. The church was designed by Henry Woodyer in a Gothic style. Gambier-Parry adorned the whole of the chancel, including the roof, much of the nave with frescoes using a new "spirit fresco" method he adapted from his study of Italian fresco painters; the church has been described by Sir John Betjeman as "The most complete Victorian Church in this country". In Simon Jenkins' book England's Thousand Best Churches, Holy Innocents was rated in the "Top 100" with four stars.
A major restoration of the church and frescoes was completed in 1994. The Grade I listed church forms an ensemble with its listed Church Lodge, Memorial Hall and Old Schoolhouse on the edge of the park of Highnam Court. St Oswald's Lassington The village falls in the'Highnam with Haw Bridge' electoral ward; this ward stretches south to Minsterworth. The total ward population at the 2011 census was 4,206. Media related to Highnam at Wikimedia Commons
A4119 road
The A4119 links Tonypandy with Cardiff in South Wales. Settlements served by the route include Tonypandy, Williamstown, Ynysmaerdy, Talbot Green, Groes-faen, Llandaff, Riverside, Butetown, Cardiff Bay; the A4119 starts outside the Wales Millennium Centre at Cardiff Bay and proceeds through Butetown, Grangetown and Cathedral Road in Canton until meeting the A48 road at Llandaff. From here is proceeds through Llandaff passing the BBC Wales studios. After leaving Llandaff the road takes on a more rural setting with many bends crossing the M4 Motorway near Capel Llanitern. From here the road snakes passed the settlement of Creigiau; the road enters the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf at Groes-faen. The road continues through the Village until it comes to a T-Junction at The Castell Mynach Public House. To the left is a Spur of the A4119 that links to Junction 34 of the M4 Motorway. Off the roundabout at the Junction is the Bosch Electronics Plant; the road continues after Mwyndy. The A4119 through Talbot Green was first built Circa.
1977 as a single carriageway passing to the side of the village straight on to Ely Valley Road, easing pressure off the original small lanes that lead from Talbot Green to the area known as Mwyndy, south of the village. The road here was built at the same time as an extension of the original Talbot - Cardiff road, leading to Junction 34 of the M4 Motorway, creating better access to the lanes leading to the Vale of Glamorgan. At Mwyndy Cross, you can still see the original lane that the road used, signposted "Arthur Llewelyn Jenkins", the lane is accessible to the furniture store and as far as Cefn-y-Parc cemetery but is blocked at the bypass. There is a roundabout with the Talbot Green Bypass after passing Mwyndy Cross and the original roads - the A473 Pontypridd to Bridgend Road; this roundabout was added when the bypass was built in 1991 and was improved during mid 2016 to mid 2017 to add extra dedicated lanes and a traffic lighting system. Another roundabout, was located at the base of Llantrisant, where the A473 ran.
When the bypass was built, it cut off the original main road from Cowbridge via Pontyclun and therefore traffic is forced to use the new Bypass. The decision was made by Mid Glamorgan County Council in the early 1990s to dual the section of A4119 between Ynysmaerdy and Mwyndy; this would be the last major road project undertaken by Mid Glamorgan before its abolishment in 1996. The completed "Talbot Green to Ynysmaerdy Dual Carriageway" opened on 28 July 1995; the scheme replaced the old Roundabout near Llantrisant with a four way traffic-lit junction, replaced the original Ely Valley Road at Talbot Green apart from the first portion: a t-junction from the centre Talbot Green's high street that leads to a row of houses and a Golf Club, this is the only remaining section Ely Valley Road, un-altered, still bearing the original road surface and signage, although it is now a Cul-de-sac. A department store called Homeworld opened in the 1980s prior to the construction of the new Dual Carriageway at Talbot Green until the store was closed in 1999 and demolished in 2000.
This, alongside a Tesco Store marked the rush of new developments in the area, the original Tesco store which opened in the 1980s was closed and demolished in 2003, after it relocated to larger premises on the former Homeworld site. Talbot Green Shopping Park was built on the former Tesco site and opened in 2004. At the next roundabout the road takes the shape of a bow passed the Ely Meadows, now the site of Magden Park, a development of Offices, Hotel and private Health facility. Bypassing the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, Avionics department of British Airways and the Headquarters of the Welsh Blood Service. On the south-bound carriageway is a long stretch of original road, although now a parking area where refreshment vans and sleepy truckers are a common sight, it provides access to some houses and a rural lane leading to Llantrisant; the Road comes to a roundabout with a turn off for the Llantrisant Industrial Park, home to the Royal Mint. Another smaller roundabout at the village of Ynysmaerdy, where the new Headquarters of the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service is located, marks the end of the Dual Carriageway, the road becomes a single carriageway again at this point.
Past Ynysmaerdy the duel carriage way merged into a single lane to climb a hill, known locally as "Stink Pot Hill" because of the sewerage works, on the side of the road. At the next roundabout the road splits, this is where a bypass separates from the original course of the A4119; the old road through the village of Coed-Ely is to the right. The bypass, completed in 1987, takes the route of the old Ely Valley Railway, the former site of the Coed-Ely Colliery is on the left. From here the road is still single carriageway with numerous rest areas; the road continues on another bypass past Tonyrefail. Shortly after Tonyrefail the road once again forks, with a junction for the A4233 which links with Trebanog and Porth; the A4119 from here follows the floor of the Valley through woodland and past a small industrial estate with the Village of Williamstown. At this roundabout the A4119 meets momentarily with its original course before continuing along the old Railway line; the route bypasses the village of Penygraig and south of Tonypandy where is progresses down a steep incline.
There is a spur with Clydach Vale before the road, still following an old railway line, progresses down to the floor of the valley where the A4119 ends with a roundabout of the A4058. The A4119 continued along Colliers Way and Llwynypia Road, where it again followed its original course, to
M4 motorway
The M4, a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales, was referred to as the London-South Wales Motorway. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Second Severn Crossing renamed the Prince of Wales Bridge, was inaugurated on 5 June 1996 by HRH The Prince of Wales and the M4 was rerouted. Apart from its two spurs—the A48 and the M48—the M4 is the only motorway in Wales; the line of the motorway from London to Bristol runs in parallel with the A4. After crossing the River Severn, toll-free since 17 December 2018, the motorway follows the A48, to terminate at the Pont Abraham services in Carmarthenshire; the major towns and cities along the route—a distance of 189 miles —include Slough, Swindon, Newport, Bridgend, Port Talbot and Swansea. A new road from London to South Wales was first proposed in the 1930s. In 1956, the Ministry of Transport announced plans for the first major post-war road improvement projects; the Chiswick flyover, a short section of elevated dual-carriageway, not classed as a motorway, opened in 1959 to reduce the impact of traffic travelling between central London and the west.
The Maidenhead bypass opened in 1961 whilst J1-J5 opened in 1965. The stretch from J18 to the west of Newport was opened including the Severn Bridge; the Port Talbot by-pass built in the 1960s and now part of the M4, was the A48 motorway, a number now allocated to a short section of motorway near Cardiff. The Ministry of Transport intended that the M4 would terminate at Tredegar Park west of Newport, following the creation of the Welsh Office that the Government became committed to a high-standard dual carriageway to Carmarthenshire; the English section of the motorway was completed on 22 December 1971 when the 50-mile stretch between junctions 9 and 15 was opened to traffic. The Welsh section was completed in 1993; the Second Severn Crossing opened in 1996, together with new link motorways on either side of the estuary to divert the M4 over the new crossing. The existing route over the Severn Bridge was redesignated the M48, the new M49 was opened to connect the new crossing to the M5. In April 2005, speed checks carried out by police camera vans between junction 14 and junction 18 led to a public protest, involving a "go-slow" of several hundred vehicles along the affected sections of the motorway.
Between 2007 and January 2010, the section from Castleton to Coryton was widened to six lanes. The scheme was formally opened on 25 January 2010 by Ieuan Wyn Jones the Deputy First Minister for Wales. During 2009, the Newport section of the motorway between junctions 23a and 29 was upgraded with a new concrete central barrier. In February 2010 it was proposed that the M4 in South Wales would become the first hydrogen highway with hydrogen stations provided along the route, with an aspiration for further stations to be provided along the M4 into South West England over time. Between 2008 and 2010, junction 11 was extensively remodelled with a new four-lane junction, two new road bridges and other works; the £65m scheme included work on the Mereoak roundabout and part of the A33 Swallowfield Bypass near Shinfield, the conversion of the two existing bridges, one of, available only to pedestrians and cyclists and the other to buses. It involved the movement of the local Highways Agency and Fire Service offices, the construction of a long footbridge network, a new bus-lane and a new gyratory.
Sound barriers for nearby residential areas were installed. In April 2008, the decision to preserve a rare Vickers machine gun pillbox and turn it into a bat roost was announced by the developers; the M4 crosses the River Severn on the Second Severn Crossing, toll free from 17 December 2018. Maintenance of the 123 miles section of the motorway in England is the responsibility of the Highways Agency; the 76 miles section in Wales is the responsibility of the Welsh Government. For the majority of its length, the national speed limit applies. Exceptions include the following: 40 miles per hour on the Chiswick Flyover within London in both directions. 60 miles per hour between junction 4 and the Chiswick Flyover eastbound only. 50 miles per hour when approaching the toll plaza after the Severn Crossing. 50 miles per hour on the Port Talbot elevated section between junction 40 and junction 41. The fixed speed camera was removed in 2006. In July 2014, an average speed camera system was installed; the M4 has two sections of smart motorway.
The one between junctions 19 and 20 north of Bristol has variable speed limits and a part-time hard-shoulder. Completion was in summer 2014; the section between junctions 24 and 29 in Newport has variable speed limits. In 2010 it was announced that a smart motorway would be constructed between junctions 3 and 12, with work starting in Autumn 2018; this will be the longest smart motorway scheme in the United Kingdom, with a length of 51km. Work is expected to be completed in March 2022 at a cost of £848 million; the Brynglas Tunnels carry the M4 under Brynglas Hill in Wales. The 404 yards-long tunnels are only twin -- bored tunnels in the UK motorway network. In July 2011, a lorry fire in one tunnel closed the motorway. Although there were no injuries and no deaths, the tunnel remained closed and a contraflow system was in place in the remaining tunnel for about one month, causing major tr
A40 road
The A40 is a major trunk road connecting London to Goodwick and called The London to Fishguard Trunk Road in all legal documents and Acts. It is 260 miles long, it is one of the few "old" trunk routes not to have been superseded by a direct motorway link. The southern section from Denham, Buckinghamshire to Oxford is now better served by the M40. Part of the A40 forms a section of the unsigned Euroroute E30, which the former Welsh Assembly Government referred to as "one of the lowest standard sections of the Trans European Road Network in the United Kingdom" The original route of the A40 was the City of London to Fishguard; the road still begins and ends in the same places, but a number of changes have been made to its route. The first change dates between Ross-on-Wye and Abergavenny; the original route of the A40 was via Skenfrith. The A40 was rerouted via Raglan. Subsequently, the A40 was rerouted within west London. Western Avenue dates from the 1930s, but was opened as the A403. After the Second World War, the A40 was rerouted along part of the Western Avenue.
The old route was renumbered the A4020. For the A40 in London, see A40 road. In central London it is High Holborn and Oxford Street. At Marble Arch it joins the A5 Edgware Road as far as the Marylebone Flyover to become Westway, it takes the A40 to meet Western Avenue. For the greater part, this section is six lanes, otherwise four lanes. With two exceptions, Western Avenue forms a grade-separated motorway standard dual-carriageway between Paddington and the M40 motorway; the two at-grade intersections are Savoy Circus. At Denham Roundabout, the six lane Western Avenue flows into the M40; the A40 branches off the Denham roundabout to run as a dual carriageway. After the junction with the A413, the A40 follows the same route as the M40 as a single carriageway, passing through Beaconsfield and High Wycombe. Beyond Stokenchurch the road is much quieter. Approaching Oxford, the A40 becomes a busy dual carriageway, carrying traffic from the M40 to Oxford and beyond; the route forms the eastern section of the Oxford ring road, crossing the A44 and A34.
After the road passes under the A34, the A40 reverts to single carriageway for 10 miles. It turns to dual carriageway again to form the Witney bypass, with a grade-separated junction; the dual carriageway finishes at a roundabout. For the rest of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire until Cheltenham, other than for a few short stretches, the road is single carriageway; this section has the highest point of the entire A40, 250 m above sea level, located 5 km west of the A429 junction. Before Andoversford the A436 breaks off to the west to try to take traffic away from descending into the centre of Cheltenham itself; the road travels through Cheltenham town centre along at least two parallel routes. Becoming a dual carriageway, it passes GCHQ in Cheltenham and the three-level stacked roundabout junction with the M5 motorway. In February 2015, the Witney Oxford Transport Group proposed the reopening of Yarnton railway station as an alternative to improvements to the A40 road proposed by Oxfordshire County Council.
The A40 is the Gloucester bypass, most of, dual carriageway. The junction with the A48 to Chepstow is at Highnam. For the remainder of Gloucestershire, a part of Herefordshire, the road is single carriageway until Ross-on-Wye, it connects with the M50 motorway, forms part of the high quality dual carriageway between South Wales and the West Midlands. In Monmouthshire, the A40 has a grade separated junction with the A449, which continues as dual carriageway to Newport and the M4; the A40 travels west, still as dual carriageway, to Abergavenny. Beyond Abergavenny, the road returns to single carriageway, running through the eastern part of the Brecon Beacons National Park until Brecon; the section between Abergavenny and Brecon has one of the highest points of the A40, 200 metres above sea level and is located at Bwlch, Welsh for'pass'. The Brecon Bypass is a short trafficked dual carriageway which runs around the south of the town. At the end of the Brecon bypass the roads returns to a single carriageway and follows the northern edge of the Brecon Beacons until Llandeilo.
The A40 continues to Carmarthen where as a dual carriageway it forms the eastern bypass, meeting the terminus of the A48 at Pensarn. At Carmarthen the A40 crosses the River Tywi twice with two 90-degree junctions and continues to St Clears on 10 miles of dual carriageway. Thereafter, the road is a mixture of 3 lane single-carriageway until Fishguard; this section of road is controlled by the Welsh Assembly Government, which describes it as "one of the lowest standard sections of the Trans European Road Network in the United Kingdom". St Clears to Haverfordwest dualling There were plans in 2002 for a major improvement of the 23-mile stretch between St Clears and Haverfordwest which included upgrading to a dual carriageway.
A40
A484
Trunk Roads in Wales
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