A4063

Route

The A4063 is a medium-length A-road in the valleys of South Wales.

The road starts in the Afan Valley on the A4107 in Cymer (also spelt Cymmer), which lies just inside the county borough of Neath Port Talbot. The road heads south, climbing steeply out of the valley to cross the watershed (and county borough boundary) to start descending into the built-up Llynfi Valley.

Near Croeserw

After running downstream along the initially narrow valley for a couple of miles the road reaches Maesteg where it TOTSOs right at traffic lights. Confusingly, whereas our final destination, Bridgend, is signposted to the right, the road ahead is signposted Cwmfelin (A4063) as well as other destinations on the B4282, which road this is. After turning right we cross the infant Llynfi and TOTSO left at the next set of lights - again the B4282 runs straight ahead.

Continuing downstream we soon reach Cwmfelin and the other end of the B4282. A mile or so afterwards we become rural as we cross the fields to the west of the valley. After passing a factory we run near to the Maesteg branch line for a couple of miles, becoming urban again as we do so. In Tondu we go under a freight line and then meet the A4065 at traffic lights. We are now at the bottom of the Llynfi Valley and we cross the River Ogmore at the first bridge downstream after the Llynfi has flowed into it. A roundabout is then reached, from where a D2 branch of the A4063 heads east to join the A4061 at M4 J36; the westbound A4063 provides access to Sarn Park services.

The mainline of the A4063 continues south as S2 and soon goes under the M4. It becomes dual itself after passing a hospital. We continue as a main artery into Bridgend, strangely becoming S2 again before the next roundabout where we reach the southern end of the A4061. A short D2 section continues ahead alongside the Ogmore and we end at the next set of traffic lights in the suburb of Newcastle, where the A473 TOTSOs.

History

In the original 1922 road classification scheme, the A4063 was a large loop off the A48 between Port Talbot and Bridgend, running northeast up the Afan valley as far as Cymer and descending thence south and southeastward along the Llynfi and Ogmore valleys through Maesteg and Aberkenfig.

The extension to Glyncorrwg

The road-numbering revision of 1935 saw the Port Talbot to Cymer section reclassified as a part of the A4107, while the dead-end former A4108 (which had earlier been the B4285) from Glyncorrwg down to Cymer became a new section of the A4063. Today the Glyncorrwg to Cymer section has been declassified, leaving Cymer to Bridgend as the core route of the A4063.