A465 Heads Of The Valleys Rd Dualling: Gilwern To Brynmawr

[Bryn666]

I can't wait for this to be completed, it's one of the best bits of engineering on the roads in a long time.

[Pendlemac]

Great shots again, Andy. The rest of the bridge deck should be installed over the weekend, starting tonight.

From Twitter:

Only just spotted this. The viewing area seems to be a Costain thing as they did the same for the bridge lift over the West-Coast mainline when building the Heysham link.

[Johnathan404]

While I realise 'enthusiasts' are irritating when you're managing an active work zone, as a country we need to be encouraging more people to enter engineering. Providing viewing decks seems like a small sign of a very positive attitude.

[Alderpoint]

While I realise 'enthusiasts' are irritating when you're managing an active work zone, as a country we need to be encouraging more people to enter engineering. Providing viewing decks seems like a small sign of a very positive attitude.

Agreed. When I was a lad we'd think nothing about visiting the local building sites and clambering over all the piles of materials and seeing how they'd been incorporated into the houses being built - the number of flyers (wall-ties) we threw around was incredible. Nowadays building sites are all fenced off and secured and whilst from a H&S view this may be desirable, it does reduce the inquisitiveness of the young and so I'm not entirely sure it is 100% beneficial.

[jeremai]

£220m Heads of the Valleys project faces delay scrutiny
A review has been ordered into Wales' largest current road building scheme, amid concerns it is running over budget and is behind schedule.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-sout ... s-41671623

[Bryn666]

They missed the memo about how difficult the Clydach gorge is to build a road in then. What did they expect?

[Moyceyy]

Was expecting this to happen given the job that it is, however the way Ken Skates will handle it, is another thing to see.

This comment on the BBC website sums it up really:

The original completion was late Summer 2018 so Spring 2019 is already a 6 month delay, now it sounds as if theres even more of a delay. Its a massive job. If you realise how much rock & soil they've had to shift. Theres half a mountain gone from Brynmawr, & a new one grown the other side of the road. Pretty standard for any big project in the UK to go over budget in cost & time.

[jeremai]

From Twitter, a significant stretch of the new alignment will be brought into use after this weekend's closure:

[wrinkly]

Side road proposals being altered:

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/2898692

[AAndy]

From Twitter, a significant stretch of the new alignment will be brought into use after this weekend's closure:

I drove down there yesterday....its going to be a section of s2 with quite a steep slope and running over the new clydach road viaduct.

Unfortuneately 2 of my main car camera's had a malfunction.. but the others did capture it a bit.

1. The new section is directly above the digger on the back of the lorry and then comes back where the man is standing where it rejoins the old alignment
A465 dualling brynmawt to gilwern november 2017c by Dskies, on Flickr

2.
A465 dualling brynmawt to gilwern november 2017b by Dskies, on Flickr

3.
A465 dualling brynmawt to gilwern november 2017d by Dskies, on Flickr

4. And the new viaduct at the top near Brynmawr
A465 dualling brynmawt to gilwern november 2017a by Dskies, on Flickr

5.
A465 dualling brynmawt to gilwern november 2017e by Dskies, on Flickr

[Berk]

Bit confused -is this basically the first half of the scheme opening??

[jeremai]

It's not really "opening" as such, no. It will still be a single lane in each direction and as the graphic shows, there will be a temporary roundabout. I imagine it's a traffic shift so they can work on the landscaping, removing the old road, completing the junction with the local roads, etc. However it does represent the first significant stretch of new carriageway coming into use (as has already happened through the tunnel at Gilwern, but it's a shorter stretch).

[Berk]

Following the route diagrams in the scheme pages, it seems like the scheme is mostly an online upgrade - apart from the middle third section, here.

[AAndy]

Interesting:

The concrete arch bridge at Gilwern has been erected and the traffic is running through the arch. This bridge is the largest of its type in the world

.

from: https://beta.gov.wales/a465-gilwern-brynmawr

[Jeni]

Up and down again on Friday...

[wrinkly]

The concrete arch bridge at Gilwern has been erected and the traffic is running through the arch. This bridge is the largest of its type in the world.

I wonder what they mean by that. There's an arch that I'd imagine is bigger under the M62 next to J24. It takes the D3M, slip road tapers and north side slope over the steep D2 A629, the uphill carriageway of which once had 3 lanes:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.67309 ... a=!3m1!1e3

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.67403 ... 312!8i6656

[Robert Kilcoyne]

The concrete arch bridge at Gilwern has been erected and the traffic is running through the arch. This bridge is the largest of its type in the world.

I wonder what they mean by that. There's an arch that I'd imagine is bigger under the M62 next to J24. It takes the D3M, slip road tapers and north side slope over the steep D2 A629, the uphill carriageway of which once had 3 lanes:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.67309 ... a=!3m1!1e3

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.67403 ... 312!8i6656

And Whitehaughs Arch, which carries the M62 over the A629, was constructed in the early 1970's. A highly impressive feat of engineering at the time.

[AAndy]

Here is the a465 arch again. It does seem wider than either those others...if that is what they mean.

A465 dualling Brynmawr to gilwern July 2017 p by Dskies, on Flickr

A465 dualling Brynmawr to gilwern July 2017 r by Dskies, on Flickr

[Bryn666]

I wonder if the way the concrete was done is what they're referring to. It looks prefabricated?

The M62 arch was constructed on site I believe.

[Hiraeth]

It's a precast arch made up of 70 individual units.

The precast arch over the canal on the Heysham to M6 Link Road was the previous record holder (https://www.moore-concrete.com/bebo-arc ... am-bypass/) - this arch is a slightly wider at a span of approx. 29m.