A449 Usk-Coldra

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Barrie Hughes
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A449 Usk-Coldra

Post by Barrie Hughes »

Does anyone know when the A449 Usk-Coldra (M4 Junction 24) dual carriageway was opened? OS Map 171 1974 (major roads revised 1972) says it was open in 1972 but does anyone have a date for the actual opening? On line resources suggest 16/10/70 for the Raglan to Usk section known as the 'New Midlands Road'. I am particularly interested to know if it was open the weekend of 27-28/5/72 when I may have travelled along it between Aberystwyth and Bristol.
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Steven
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Re: A449 Usk-Coldra

Post by Steven »

Barrie Hughes wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 11:24 Does anyone know when the A449 Usk-Coldra (M4 Junction 24) dual carriageway was opened? OS Map 171 1974 (major roads revised 1972) says it was open in 1972 but does anyone have a date for the actual opening? On line resources suggest 16/10/70 for the Raglan to Usk section known as the 'New Midlands Road'. I am particularly interested to know if it was open the weekend of 27-28/5/72 when I may have travelled along it between Aberystwyth and Bristol.
As usual with this kind of question, the first place to look is on the rest of SABRE that aren't the forums, in this case on Digest, the SABRE Wiki:

Network changes from the 1970s is the specific article you need, one of a series from the amazing research put together mostly by RossSpur.

And no, it wasn't open on that date.
Steven
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From the SABRE Wiki: Network changes - 1970s :
list of the changes to the road network in Great Britain from 1970 - 1979.  Includes road openings and renumberings.


NC|1971|A165|Coniston Bypass|Yorkshire|Reported as now open by the Hull Daily Mail of 9 February 1971.NC|1971|A168|Dishforth Bypass|Yorkshire|The 1.4 mile dual carriageway from 1013 yards north-east of Duckhill Lane to Blind Lane,

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Ross Spur
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Re: A449 Usk-Coldra

Post by Ross Spur »

Barrie Hughes wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 11:24 Does anyone know when the A449 Usk-Coldra (M4 Junction 24) dual carriageway was opened? OS Map 171 1974 (major roads revised 1972) says it was open in 1972 but does anyone have a date for the actual opening? On line resources suggest 16/10/70 for the Raglan to Usk section known as the 'New Midlands Road'. I am particularly interested to know if it was open the weekend of 27-28/5/72 when I may have travelled along it between Aberystwyth and Bristol.
Hi Barrie and welcome to the Forum, It was the 6 December 1972 Coventry Evening Telegraph that said the road had opened "last week". Another newspaper has since come up. The Burton Daily Mail of 7 December 1972 reported that it was to be opened "tomorrow" by Peter Thomas, Secretary of State for Wales. Perhaps the official opening was a little later than the actual opening, but it still would have been in December 1972 after your trip.
Ian
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