The end is in sight for a £1.4bn road transformation project that has taken an incredible 23 years to reach completion. Work on the A465 Heads of the Valleys road is expected to finish in summer 2025, but why on earth did it take so long?
Firstly, let’s outline what was involved before we look at the reasons the project has taken more than two decades. For comparison, the Channel Tunnel took just under six years to complete.
Work began to widen the A465 back in 2002. The road links Swansea and Monmouthshire, and although parts of the route already benefited from two lanes, other parts suffered congestion and frequent serious road crashes.
While the length of time to finish seems excessive, the project was tackled in a logical fashion, with work beginning on the most dangerous sections of road to make those safer as soon as possible. Work was carried out on the section of A465 from Hirwaun to Dowlais, delivering 17.7km of new dual carriageway, 6.1km of side roads, 30 new bridges, 28 retaining walls, 38 new culverts and 12 new junctions.
Once you understand the scale of the project, it’s easier to see why it might take many years, but 23 years still seems excessive. So what happened?
Multiple factors slowed things down, from difficult geological terrain to challenging political terrain. Devolution and a global pandemic occurred during the project.
And leaving the EU didn’t help, as that led to funding issues, with previously available funding no longer possible.
The construction site goes through the protected Clydach Gorge with its hidden caves and steep terrain. Plus, there was the challenge of needing to keep the road open throughout the works, which naturally slows things down.
On the positive side, 285,000 trees have been planted to offset the environmental impact of the project, which came in at more than seven million kilograms of carbon dioxide per year. Workers also moved bats, dormice and great crested newts ahead of construction.
The project provided many jobs for locals and has massively improved accessibility and transport links for a relatively deprived area. Around 250 engineering apprentices have been trained on this scheme, and 5,000 workers have been employed at various points, with 1,000 contractors working on site at some points during the project.
Whatever people might think about the financial and environmental costs of this work, we do need more engineers in the UK, so those apprenticeships are definitely a positive legacy for the scheme.
But wouldn’t it be great if we spent more time marvelling at the speed at which we can build things in the UK, instead of wondering at how it can be that we’ve spent two decades widening one road?
Meanwhile, if you need any assistance with the structural elements of an upcoming project, please do get in touch.
