The Anonymous Widower

Heads Of The Valleys Road Upgrade Officially Opens

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on BusinessNewsWales.

This is the sub-heading.

The final phase of the £2 billion Heads of the Valleys Road upgrade programme has officially opened.

These first two paragraphs add detail to the project.

The Welsh Government said it marked the completion of “one of the UK’s largest and most technically challenging road projects”.

The £1.4 billion Section 5&6 Dowlais to Hirwaun final phase links the Valleys, South and West Wales to the English Midlands and beyond, together with ports serving Irish and other European destinations. As well as improving the resilience of the South Wales trunk road network, the road provides a vital link across the top of the South Wales valleys for the Metro project improving links to the Cardiff and Swansea Bay City Regions, the Welsh Government said.

From the statistics of work done and the money involved, it would appear that a comprehensive upgrade has fixed a big gap in the UK’s motorway network in South Wales.

This Google Map shows the locations of Dowlais and Hirwaun.

Note.

1. Dowlais is in the North-East corner of the map.
2. Hirwaun is in the South-West corner of the map and is outlined in red.
3. The Heads of the Valleys Road links Dowlais and Hirwaun.
4. Going East from Dowlais leads to Abergavenny, Monmouth, Raglan and the English Midlands.
5. Abergavenny has a station, but Monmouth and Raglan don’t!
6. Abergavenny station has comprehensive services to stations as far apart as Cardiff, Crewe, Holyhead, Manchester Piccadilly,  Swansea and Wrexham General.

Abergavenny station could eventually turn out to be a parkway station for the South Wales Valleys.

I can certainly understand, why Lumo wants to run a service to Hereford.

I also feel that the Welsh government and Transport for Wales would be in favour of the service.

• Three towns in Wales; Cwmbran, Pontypool and Abergavenny get a direct service to Bristol Parkway and London Paddington stations.
• Hereford already has an hourly connection to Birmingham New Street via Worcester and University.
• If a coach were to be provided between Bristol Parkway and Bristol Airport, this could make getting to Bristol Airport easier.

I can see further improvements to services, that terminate at Abergavenny.

June 14, 2025 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Abergavenny, Abergavenny Station, Birmingham New Street Station, Bristol Parkway Station, Cardiff Central Station, Construction, Driving, Heads Of The Valleys Road, Hereford Station, Holyhead Station, Lumo, Lumo Paddington And Hereford, Manchester Piccadilly Station, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouth, Paddington Station, Parkway Station, Raglan, South Wales, Swansea Station, Transport for Wales, Welsh Government, Wrexham General Station