A48 road

This article is about the road in Great Britain. For the road in France, seeA48 autoroute.For the road in Spain, seeAutovía A-48.

A48
The A48 (Eastern Avenue, in Cardiff near theUniversity Hospital of Wales)
Route information
Part of
Maintained byEnglish local authoritiesandSouth Wales Trunk Road Agent
Length	119 mi (192 km)
Major junctions
From	A40 Highnam
Major intersections	A466 A449 M4 A4042 A48(M) A4232 A470 A465 A4138 A483
To	A484 Carmarthen
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Primary destinations	Chepstow Newport Cardiff Bridgend Port Talbot Neath Swansea Carmarthen
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones
←A47 →A49

TheA48is atrunk roadinGreat Britainrunning from theA40atHighnam,3 miles (4.8 km) west ofGloucester,England,to the A40 atCarmarthen,Wales.Before theSevern Bridgeopened on 8 September 1966, it was a major route between England andSouth Wales.For most of its route, it runs almost parallel to theM4 motorway.During times of high winds at the Severn Bridge, the A48 is used as part of the diversion route and is still marked as a Holiday Route.

From Gloucester, the A48 runs through the villages ofMinsterworth,Westbury-on-Severn,connects to a link road toCinderfordin theForest of Deanthen throughNewnham,Blakeneyand since 1995,bypassingLydneyon the west bank of theRiver Severn.It crosses theEngland–Wales borderatChepstowand continues westwards close to the South Wales coast passingNewport,Cardiff,Cowbridge,Bridgend,Pyle,Port Talbot,NeathandSwansea,before terminating at the junction with the A40 near the centre ofCarmarthen.

Route

Highnam to Cardiff

The A48 from Highnam to Newport runs adjacent to theRiver Severn.After running through a series of villages, it crosses theEngland–Wales borderatChepstow.The section between Higham and Chepstow is still a primary route of some importance for the Forest of Dean. From theM4 Motorwayat J15 near Swindon, traffic is directed for Wales if it is over theSevern Bridgeweight limit of 44 tonnes. Traffic is directed onto the A419, then onto theA417after Cirencester, and at Gloucester, onto the A40. This road has some speed cameras, as there have previously been incidents here, and have been erected to prevent them from happening again. During busy periods, such as the Severn Bore, this road may become busy with parked cars near the river's edge. Apart from morning and evening rush hours, the road is generally quite empty and free running, with no heavy traffic reports. The road also runs next to theForest of Dean.The woods may be viewed from the roadside, as may the hills of the Dean. There is alevel crossingin Lydney. Until Chepstow, there is a height limit under the lowrailway bridges.Tall vehicles are directed to Newport on the A40. For some parts of this route, short distance dual carriageways occur, especially on steep hills. At Chepstow, the road linksGloucestershirewithMonmouthshire.The road runs through Chepstow. There is access to the Forest of Dean in Chepstow. At the end of the road in Chepstow (at the roundabout), the Primary Route ends here, and it meets the A466, a road that provides access to theWye Valleyand to theM48 motorway,originally the M4. Access to the M4 is available on this road. The A48 becomes a secondary route here, and continues bypassingCaldicot,CaerwentandLangstone.

The A48 then continues to M4 junction 24, from which oint it is also known as theSouthern Distributor Road,which is entirely adual carriagewaywith two lanes in each direction around the southern end of Newport until M4 junction 28. From junction 28 it remains a dual carriageway until just after the Celtic Way roundabout where it becomes a single carriageway with four lanes pastCastleton,and then merges with the junction 29A of theA48(M) motorwayatSt Mellons,where it again becomes a dual carriageway with two lanes in each direction, where it is known as the Eastern Avenue until the Gabalfa Interchange, where it is known as the Western Avenue and is largely a single carriageway with four lanes until Culverhouse Cross interchange.

Cardiff to Carmarthen

From the Culverhouse Cross interchange on the western boarder of Cardiff the road is mostly a single carriageway with two lanes until Cowbridge, where it becomes the CowbridgeBypasswhich is adual carriageway,until again it becomes a single carriageway with two lanes until Bridgend when it is a dual carriageway again. From Bridgend it becomes a single carriageway, until Port Talbot where it is a dual carriageway, and originally known as theA48(M) (Port Talbot Bypass)until the M4 was extended. The A48 then ends on the western end of the Briton Ferry Bridge at junction 42 of the M4 and starts again at junction 44 where again it is a single carriageway until the end of the M4 at junction 49 where it becomes a dual carriageway and forms part of the maintrunk roadbetweenPont Abraham ServicestoCarmarthenwhere the A48 ends.

History of the road number

The original (1923) route of the A48 wasWorcesterto Carmarthen viaMalvern,Ledbury,Ross-on-Wye,Monmouth,Newport, Cardiff, Bridgend, Neath andLlanelli.In 1935 it was rerouted east of Newport, replacing the A437 between Newport and Gloucester. The road from Worcester to Newport became part of theA449,apart from the section between Ross and Monmouth (which became part of the A40).

Road safety

In June 2008, the 27-mile (43 km) Gloucester – Chepstow stretch of the A48 was named as the most dangerous road in South West England. This single carriageway had 45 fatal and serious injurycollisionsbetween 2004 and 2006, and was rated as medium risk in theEuroRAPreport published by theRoad Safety Foundation.

On 6 March 2023, five people were found after they had been missing for two days. Three of the five were found dead following a believed car crash after their car was found on the A48 inSt Mellons,with the other two injured.

See also

• Southern Distributor Road- the A48 distributor road south of Newport
• City Bridge- a crossing of the River Usk which forms part of the Southern Distributor Road.

External links

• Media related toA48 road (Great Britain)at Wikimedia Commons