Will the A40 road upgrade scheme in Pembrokeshire make a difference?

Tindle News

With the A40 A40 Llanddewi Velfrey to Redstone Cross road scheme in Pembrokeshire officially opened by Wales’ First Minister and Transport Secretary.. The scheme, which was officially opened on Friday, May 2 by Welsh Labour Government First Minister, Eluned Morgan and Transport Secretary is sure to improve connectivity, reduce journey times, provide extra resilience and reliability, and enhance road safety.   It delivers a new 6km upgrade to the old road, a new carriageway, new roundabouts, 2 new bridges, 22 culverts, a new active travel route and environmental landscaping with over 450,000 plants and trees.

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00:00It's taken four years to build and has caused plenty of disruption, but the new road between

00:05Llandewi, Felfry and Redstone Cross is finally complete, much to the relief of local firms

00:12like this bus company that use the road every day.

00:15There's been disruption. Some days we'd be disrupted a long time, perhaps 20 minutes,

00:22but then the next week we'd be flying through. When we were doing the public service from

00:27Haverford West to Cymarthen, that was more of an issue than doing the schools. It's done,

00:33thank goodness it's finished, and let's see how it goes.

00:36For years, there was pressure to build a dual carriageway all the way from Sinclair's to

00:40Haverford West, but that was judged to be too costly. This is a major route for freight

00:46traveling to and from Ireland and for tourists. The £60 million improvement between Llandewi,

00:53Felfry and Redstone Cross has been funded by European and Welsh Government money and was

00:58open to traffic for the first time by the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Transport.

01:04This has been a huge construction project over the last four years. Six kilometers of new carriageway,

01:11two new bridges, two new junctions and two new roundabouts. There's also provision for pedestrians,

01:17cyclists and horse riders. The small village of Llandewi, Felfry has finally got its bypass

01:23after decades of campaigning and is no longer on the main A40 route.

01:28It's very needed, dangerous walking through the village and things, so it's going to transform

01:33the village in many ways. It's going to be very different. I think we've probably become more of

01:37a community now. We won't have a road dividing us, so it's exciting times moving forward.

01:41The building work began before the Welsh Government decided in 2023 to cancel future road projects

01:48and concentrate on public transport. One local haulage firm has welcomed the investment,

01:53but says more improvements are needed across South Wales.

01:56The improvement was definitely needed. Summer holidays and school holidays, Easter holidays,

02:01was terrible. So it was needed. However, it is needed elsewhere also. It's needed up the M4 corridor

02:08on the Brynglas tunnels. Hopefully now, I know there's been mention of it being put back once again,

02:16but hopefully there will be some light at the end of the tunnel here also to get the bypass done around

02:21the Brynglas tunnels. You made a decision as a government in 2023 to pause

02:25large road projects. Was that a mistake, do you think? Well, this shows the value of road projects,

02:31and we are reviewing the tests which we applied to new road schemes to make sure that they are fit

02:37for purpose, because we will go on building roads. We will go on improving connectivity. We will go on

02:44driving prosperity and investing in infrastructure, investing in skills. They're the two main means of

02:49driving prosperity. So was it wrong to pause projects in 2023, do you think? I don't think I'd describe it

02:54as wrong. I think we just need to make sure that it's working and that it's fit for purpose,

02:58and that's why it's important to review things. The Welsh Government says it's spent £1bn on road

03:04repairs since 2021. But some are calling on the Government to rethink and commit to building

03:10new road projects once again, and not just fixing the ones we have already.

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