Talk:A470 road

Reference to the railway
Reference to the railway at Talerddig as the "Mid Wales Railway" removed as this is unclear and throwing up a lot of erroneous google hits. The Mid Wales Railway was the line from Moat Lane Junction to Brecon via Llanidloes, Rhayader, and Builth Wells, which closed in 1963, and given its geographic proximity to the A470, using the term to refer to the Shrewsbury-Machynlleth route is misleading at best. The latter route is termed by Wikipedia the Cambrian Line. Graldensblud 17:37, 30 August 2006 (UTC)]


 * This is correct. --Fuelboy 16:16, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

Anyone know how this particular route was arrived at/chosen?
If anyone's got some insider information on this important, reknowned, but decidedly odd and illogical-looking bit of tarmac, i'd be interested to hear it. It's not exactly taking the most direct route, now, is it? Though the maths involved may not match exactly what happens on the ground, my route planning software was incredibly reticent to send me along the A470 in either "quickest" or "shortest" modes between it's terminus near the Cardiff docks and the Llandudno seafront... in fact it barely touched it until approaching the A55 even after I prohibited it from using motorways or country lanes. A total of NINE carefully placed waypoints were required to avoid various (more logical-looking, i.e. shorter and straighter) detours along various other A- and B- roads for large sections all so I could get a reasonable readout of it's total length. If I'd programmed this route into a Satnav (and wasn't wanting to simply go M4, A40, M50, M6, M56, A55...) it looks like I'd have covered about 11 miles less and made about the same time by just following the robot lady and her 'shortest' route (going by the motorways would be 60 miles more, but saves an hour and who knows how much fuel). Must be either political influence or an old-school effort to connect the most important towns instead of a straight-through long distance route. Guess you have to make some compromises when needing to juggle two disperate priorities (trunk transport, local services) with only one main road and the very bare minimum of collectors/distributors and basically no slip roads.

A telling insight into how tortuous the geography is in terms of roadbuilding is that the straight line distance is 133 miles - or in other words, there's more difference between the "crow's flight" and the road itself, than there is between the A470 and taking a largely English motorway route. o_O 82.46.180.56 (talk) 01:39, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Primary Destinations on Infobox
I have taken the primary destination on the infobox from List of primary destinations on the United Kingdom road network. Seth Whales (talk) 18:15, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

The A470 is more than just a north&mdash;south road
The A470 is a cultural and historical celebration of Wales. From the Coal mines in the South to the Slate mines in the north the road cuts though them all. The Iron Foundries and Industrial history of Merthyr Tydfil are encapsulated in the route, watch out for Crawshay's Cyfartha Castle and the giant Cefn Coed Railway viaduct just prior to entering the Brecon Beacons National Park. A short distance from here is the Brecon Mountain Railway. Passing through the reseovoirs of the Brecon Beacons and reaching Brecon itself. A history going back millennia. Not far away Talgarth, the ancient capital of Brycheinog (Brecon). Pop into Erwood Railway Station and Craft Centre for coffee and a break just off the A470 between Brecon and Builth Wells. Onwards through rural countryside and lovely views via Rhyader (a mile or two to the west from here are the spectacular Elan Valley Dams) Onwards through Llanidloes, Carno, (Laura Ashleys first factory) Caersws, Cemmaes, Dolgellau (the wonderful special brick town the centre for mountain walking and the amazing scenery of the Mawddych Estuary). Blaenau Ffestiniog, the slate caverns and amazing landscapes. Steam railways to the coast. Then to the beautiful and atmospheric Betws y Coed, the Waterfalls and the nearby LLanberis mountain centres. Through charming Llanwrst, Bodnant Gardens and Llandudno, surely the best of all the seaside resorts in Britain, purpose built, with the Great Orme Tram Railway and the Great Orme Bronze Age Copper Mines. A short video of the A470 can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFIg9RvyLyE —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nofydd (talk • contribs) 09:53, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

A470(T)

 * I have just been made aware that the government's description of this road is A470(T). Ref. Will extend mobile coverage to 60,000 rural homes and along at least 10 key roads by 2015, including the A2 and A29 in Northern Ireland, the A57, A143, A169, A352, A360 and A591 in England, the A82(T) in Scotland and the A470(T) in Wales, subject to planning permission, using the £150m investment announced at Autumn Statement 2011. — Budget 2012: Technology section from Treasury Budget Report, BBC News Online, 21 March 2012
 * Should this be shown on the article page? It certainly endorses the view expressed at the top of this page, that this road is of "high importance".
 * Gareth Griffith-Jones (talk) 09:46, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

Map of entire route

 * I have just added a map to the Lead, showing the route from Cardiff to Llandudno. Gareth Griffith-Jones (talk) 21:31, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

Straightened
Part of it was straightened in 2010-11, around Newbridge-on-Wye - or rather, a new bit of straight road was built alongside the old, wind-y road. It might be worth putting a reference in for this. I suspect that there's no money to straighten any more of it any time soon. Dewi Rees (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 18:50, 5 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Thank you for that. Could you be a little more specific and give us a reference? -- Gareth Griffith-Jones (talk) 19:36, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

This is the contractor's specifics for the scheme - https://www.alungriffiths.co.uk/sectors/highways-bridges/a470-cwmbach-newbridge-wye/ GlenUsk2 (talk) 14:09, 31 August 2018 (UTC)


 * Thank you, but this does not appear to be any more noteworthy than numerous other improvements to the A470 over the years. Verbcatcher (talk) 22:11, 1 September 2018 (UTC)


 * There have been improvements ? I wonder if the residents of Rhayader know that ?!  Velella  Velella Talk 22:25, 1 September 2018 (UTC)

Too much detail?
Isn't it a bit too much to have a lengthy, barely sourced "Route in detail" section? Shouldn't the article be a summary, picking out the recognised highlights? Sionk (talk) 13:03, 21 October 2013 (UTC)