A4060

This article is about the present allocation of this number in Merthyr Tydfil.
For the original route in Bridgend, see A4060 (Bridgend).

The A4060 is the shortest primary route in Wales to have trunk road status throughout. It connects the A470 in Abercanaid, four kilometres south-east of Merthyr Tydfil town centre, to the A465 Heads of the Valleys Road at Dowlais Top, constituting an eastern bypass of Merthyr and of Dowlais itself. Known locally as "The Slip Road", the basic route dates from 1948 to 1951, with subsequent improvements made chiefly in the 1990s.

Setting off from a roundabout junction with the A470 on the western bank of the Taff, the route crosses the river and the Merthyr to Abercynon and Cardiff railway line on a gently descending viaduct before intersecting with the A4054 (the original A470) at a roundabout in Pentrebach.

The road now becomes D2 and, after encountering another roundabout shortly afterwards, begins a five-kilometre climb towards Dowlais Top, largely following sweeping curves along the hillside, from which there are extensive views west and northwestward (with the south side of the Brecon Beacons visible in good weather). The two carriageways are well separated (by up to 210 metres) in the first part of the ascent as they pass either side of Glynmil. The northbound carriageway is the older of the two, dating from before dualling.

Approaching Dowlais Top roundabout

The last-but-one junction is with the A4102 at Mountain Hare, from where the A4060 then curves around the northwestern flank of the (now "greened") slopes of Dowlais Great Tip, behind which lie extensive opencast workings, to reach the terminus of the route at a roundabout junction with the westbound carriageway of the A465 at Dowlais Top. The eastbound A465 can be reached by heading west for a short distance to the next roundabout.