Residents stuck on Llanhilleth's closed 'road to nowhere' (From South Wales Argus)

Residents stuck on Llanhilleth's closed 'road to nowhere'

2:10pm Monday 1st June 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(8)

A VALLEYS road which started to collapse remains closed to traffic three years on.

Some residents in Royal Oak near Llanhilleth say they feel like they are living on a road to nowhere since part of the former B4471 was closed to traffic in 2006.

Nicola Jenkins, 40, lives on Andrews Terrace, which leads onto the Royal Oak Viaduct from Llanhilleth to Crumlin.

She says she used walk along the road to nearby shops in Crumlin but feels cut off from the community since the road closed. She says buses no longer come down the road so she either has to walk to Llanhilleth to get one or walk everywhere.

Mrs Jenkins, who has two sons Ieuan Jenkins, three, and Nathan Paull, nine, said she is also worried for the safety of her children who play in the street because some motorists speed down the road thinking it is still open.

She said: “We have already had one girl come down here and crash into the barriers because she didn't realise. She was pretty shaken up.

“Sat navs still direct people down here and lorries come down and get stuck. Then they have to reverse back up the road because they can’t turn round.”

In 2000 the first in a number of weight restrictions and temporary closures was introduced on the road because the road started to fall away.

The road, which runs through both Blaenau Gwent and the Caerphilly county borough, was permanently closed to traffic in 2006 after both councils agreed it was the only financially viable option.

At the same time the councils agreed to demolish the viaduct structure in the interests of public safety. Other residents, however, say they happy the road will remain closed.

Andrew Vincent, 43, said: "Keep the road closed, we don't it reopened, there was too much traffic up and down there before."

Paul Dawkins, 24, said: "It is a lot better down here now it's been closed to traffic, and the kids have got somewhere to play."

Demolition work is now under way and is due to finish in the late autumn, when the old route will reopen as a cycleway and footpath.

Blaenau Gwent council refused to comment on how much the work is costing.

A spokeswoman for Blaenau Gwent council said the old road was not a primary route and the nearby A467 provided a main road link between Llanhilleth and Crumlin.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(8)