A469
A469 | |||||||||||||
Location Map ( geo) | |||||||||||||
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From: | Roath, Cardiff (ST199776) | ||||||||||||
To: | Bute Town (SO102095) | ||||||||||||
Distance: | 24.5 miles (39.4 km) | ||||||||||||
Meets: | A4161, B4261, A48, A470, B4562, B4623, A468, B4600, A472, B4254, A4049, B4257, A465 | ||||||||||||
Former Number(s): | B4258, A4050, A4049 | ||||||||||||
Old route now: | B4623, B4257 | ||||||||||||
Primary Destinations | |||||||||||||
Highway Authorities | |||||||||||||
Traditional Counties | |||||||||||||
Route outline (key) | |||||||||||||
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Route
The A469 runs along the Rhymney Valley up from Cardiff.
Cardiff - Bute Town
The A469 begins life as a busy urban distributor road on the former A48 (now A4161) in Roath, Cardiff. It runs through city streets before reaching a curious version of a three-level stacked roundabout junction with the A48 and A470, where the A469 is not grade separated (the other two roads are).
Once we disentangle ourselves from the A48 and A470, we continue northwards, reaching the limit of the built up area when we cross the M4. there is no junction with the M4 - but presumably there was once a plan for a junction - it is the only possible existing candidate for the missing junction 31.
On leaving Cardiff, there is a steep climb to Caerphilly Common. The A469 used to pass directly through the middle of Caerphilly along what is now the B4263. Now, however, it runs northwestwards to bypass the town, meeting the A468 to share a multiplex in the north western part of town. The town centre route is more interesting as it takes you right past the castle, complete with moat and leaning tower, but the multiplex is unusually signposted as A468/A469, thus giving neither number dominance over the other. Whichever route you take, you reach a roundabout at the northern point on the bypass, from where the A468 continues east and the A469 continues northwards along a dual carriageway, in the Rhymney Valley. We run on the east bank to Ystrad Mynach, where the dual carriageway ends at the roundabout with the A472. Then we cross the river, but remain shoehorned into the valley as we proceed northward to Bargoed. At Pengam a spur of the A469 heads east across the river to meet the A4049.
At the northern fringe of Bargoed, we pass under the railway before heading round a very sharp hairpin in order to continue north. We remain on the west bank, but the main settlements appear to be on the east bank, and the topography is such that crossing points are few and far between. At New Tredegar, we reach the end of the A4049, then continue north to Rhymney, which again is mostly on the other side of the river.
The A469 ends to the north of town at a dumbbell GSJ on the A465 at Bute Town, between Merthyr Tydfil and Tredegar.
History
In 1922, the A469 only ran between the A470 in Cardiff and the A472 in Ystrad Mynach. It was extended south to meet the A48 in the mid-1920s and then north in 1935, along the whole route of the A4050 and then some of the A4049 to meet the A465 to the north of Rhymney. Upgrades and bypasses since then have given it its current route.
Llanbradach Bypass - the 4 mile dual carriageway from the A468 at Pwllypant to Hengoed was to be officially opened on 9 September 1993 by Len Lewis, Chairman of Mid-Glamorgan County Council, and Ron Davies, Shadow Welsh Secretary. Some villagers, who had fought for the bypass and were not invited to the official ceremony, staged their own ceremony an hour beforehand with Iris Gristock cutting the ribbon. Contractor was Birse, cost was £23.5 million.