A5026

The A5026 is a four-branched A-road centred on the Flintshire town of Holywell.

Route

View across to the Wirral

The route starts at junction 31 of the A55, a dumbbell interchange at which the A5151 is also met. It first heads northeastwards to Pant y Wacco, from where a spur heads back west to a roundabout on the A5151 less than a mile north of the A55.

The A5026 continues east, bypassing Gorsedd and Carmel, as it always has, before entering Holywell along Holway Road. On the western edge of town the road splits. The left fork runs through the town centre. It meets the B5121 to the holy well itself before reaching a gyratory surrounding the bus station. From here the B5121 and B5432 head south back to reach the main line of the A5026.

We next head east along Coleshill Street before descending a valley to reach Welston, signed as a suburb of Bagillt. The road bends to the right to arrive at a sharply angled T-junction on the original line of the A548, where we turn right (the easier turn) to end on the current line of that road a short distance to the east.

Returning to Holywell, the main line of the A5026 skirts the edge of town. We cross the B5121 at traffic lights and then meet the B5432. There are a few bends before we reach open country, with the sea just visible to the left. Beyond the oddly named village of Dolphin the road splits, with westbound traffic having to give way to the westbound offslip from junction 32 of the A55. Shortly afterthis the eastbound offslip comes in. Now, this is all that junction 32 is – there being no onslips here – and the A5026 continues on to reach the A55 itself. The two roads run side-by-side for a short distance before the A5026 descends to a crossroads, which is part of junction 32A. The road ahead is the eastbound onslip (which remains two-way for some distance as a local access road), whilst turning right under the A55 leads to the two westbound sliproads and also the B5123. The A5026 ends here.

History

Route changes

Today's A5026 follows the former route of the A55 through Holywell in Flintshire for some 6.6 miles, leaving the new alignment at junction 31 west of the town and rejoining it at junction 32A.

The original 2.2-mile route of the A5026, running east from Holywell to the A548 at Whelston, has retained that number as a branch off the "main line". Another, shorter (0.7-mile) branch at the western end of the route runs from the A5151 at Pen-ffordd-lan to Pant y Wacco, along a stretch of road which was formerly numbered B5332.

Holywell Inner Relief Road

It was opened between 4 October 1985 and 13 December 1985 (per the Liverpool Daily Post). Forecast cost was £1.1 million.