EditorConsultant appointed to progress Llandeilo bypass scheme
In 2024, Transport Secretary Ken Skates MS approved a preferred route for the long-awaited scheme. This would see a new junction with the A483 and A476 to Cross Hands at Ffairfach, with another junction just before Llandeilo’s iconic brick bridge before the road follows the line of the railway across a new bridge bypassing the town, before joining the existing A40 junction to Carmarthen.
Additional work would also take place in Llandeilo itself, with Rhosmaen Street becoming one-way to provide more space for pedestrians.
Arcadis Consulting will now commission contractors to develop the outline design for the project.
Residents and businesses have argued for many years that the narrow sections of Bridge Street and Rhosmaen Street were not suitable for the heavy traffic which squeezes through it. Llandeilo is also a designated air quality management area due to historic breaches in nitrogen dioxide levels.
The need for a Llandeilo bypass was raised in Parliament as far back as 1970, with feasibility studies for the bypass in progress by 1973, but no draft orders were announced.
Work to build a bypass was initially supposed to begin in 2019, but this was delayed twice with a new start date of 2025 proposed.
The project was one of the few road schemes which wasn’t scrapped by former transport minister, Lee Waters MS following his review on road building.
The Welsh Government now say that, subject to successful completion of statutory processes, which will likely involve a public local inquiry, construction work could commence in 2029.
The project has now been estimated to cost £88m – an increase over the original £50m budget, and is now projected to be complete by Autumn 2031 – 61 years after it was first discussed.
