South Wales £2bn dual-carriageway finally opens after 23 years of roadworks
13 June 2025, 11:50 | Updated: 13 June 2025, 12:01
A dual-carriageway has reopened after two decades of roadworks amounting to £2 billion building costs.
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Following 23 years of roadworks for the upgrade of the A465 Heads of the Valleys road in South Wales, the project has finally been complete.
Often referred to as the 'road from hell', the works for the 28-mile route began in 2002 and have only just been complete, amounting to a whopping £2 billion.
The revamped road is designed to improve transport links between Swansea and the Midlands and support economic development in some of Wales' most disadvantaged communities.
The final phase of the dual carriageway to be completed was sections five and six, from Dowlais to Hirwaun.
Read more: More than 1,000 miles of roadworks lifted to ease Easter getaway
We’re good to go - the Heads of the Valleys Road is now fully open! 🛣️
— Welsh Government (@WelshGovernment) June 12, 2025
The £2bn road project will help deliver better transport, providing new and improved links for the Valleys, South and West Wales, and get you where you’re going faster.https://t.co/IPafXRJTjA pic.twitter.com/AA0ibtxgyi
The Welsh government says the final phase of the project has created 2,200 new jobs across the country.
Transport secretary Ken Skates said that delivering "better transport" was a "priority".
He said the project was "complex" and admitted that it had "not been without its challenges".
Skates also acknowledged a project on this scale was "inevitably going to have an impact on local residents" and thanked them for their patience.
The project required the construction of about 70 structures, over 40 bridges, and 12 brand new junctions.
First proposed in the 1990s due to safety concerns, frequent car accidents on parts of the road and regular congestion, work on transforming the A465 into a full dual-carriageway began under Tony Blair’s government.
However, over the last 23 years, the project endured repeated delays, budget overruns, hundreds of road closures, and disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The project was also hit hard by the UK leaving the European Union as it received significant funding from the EU and could no longer access this money as a result.
