Well, yeh as they are now the fastest things on the rd, closely followed by the illegal scooters (which riders insist on buying) scooting along the rds, pavements, strait thro traffic lights an on the wrong side of the rd... Theres no welcome to Wales anymore...
The older I get the more I realise people in positions of responsibility (like building roads), are just winging it 🤭 as to how it'll turn out. Great channel 👍
It only takes one broken down vehicle or (yet another) accident on the Link Road (A4232) or Rover Way and the whole of Cardiff and the rest of South Wales grinds to a standstill. Thanks for the video Jon, enjoyed it muchly. 👍👍
Yep it's great to see our "ski-ramp" being featured. Rover Way is insane, not to mention always thoroughly filthy, the signs are always covered with muck. The speed limit is supposed to be 40mph but I'm always stuck in a train with everyone going 30mph because one idiot at the front of the queue can't read signs. I've never, ever managed to go 40mph down that road, so frustrating.
One of the area with the worst air pollution in Wales is around the M4 in Newport. The reason is that the road is no longer fit for purpose but you guessed it Bell**d Drakeford said no to the M4 relief road which would have allowed vehicles to run more efficiently as they wouldn't have had to negotiate the ups and downs around St.Juliens and Beechwood plus not having to go through the pinch point at the Brynglas Tunnels. All because some squirrel in a tree on the Gwent levels would have been mildly disturbed.
@@markjlewis I used to like the naturalist Iolo Williams, but I've boycotted anything he has been associated with since he led the campaign to cancel the proper M4 and condemn the people in the area where I grew up to permanent air pollution.
The M4 around Newport is at capacity. It can't get any worse and it means anyone using it has chosen to do so instead of taking any of the alternatives ie the car is still the best option. What then would opening a second motorway around Newport achieve? All it would do is induce demand up to the point where that was full again too. The WG strategy of investing in public transport like the South Wales Metro and better bus services between Cardiff and Newport is the way forward to better manage capacity across all modes instead of catering relentlessly to drivers. I say this as somebody who endures a daily commute from Cardiff to Bristol by car. I'd love to do it by train but it takes too long, the trains are infrequent and expensive. If people like me could move off the road it would of course create capacity for others who do need to use the road. If we're going to build a road anywhere, let's compete Rover Way in Cardiff! It's only a stones throw from the Senedd I bet you cynics will love that. Sorry for the long post and love the videos Jon if not your attitude towards cyclists 🚲🚲
Just an FYI, more roads only increases traffic in the long term, therefore having more environmental impact. It is a well documented fact. If your argument is regarding climate, the best thing to do is not use your car. If you can not give up your car, you should be supporting construction and policies to improve other transporting methods to encourage more people out of cars. Building more roads has never been the answer, and every town/city developer around the world knows this.
@@carldiffseason ticket to Bristol works out at £14.09 a day. With the Clean air charge of £9, plus parking, plus petrol, is it really cheaper to drive?
@@MeibeonI think some do actually believe it's 20mph everywhere though. I had to overtake someone doing 20mph on a 30 then 40mph road that was clearly signed, multiple times.
It's a blanket for 'built-up areas', so basically just all the southern cities, and probably put speed cameras all the way through Rhyader to catch bikers slipping 0.05MPH over 20.
A video on payday, well done there! Just watched the B1M on the Messina Strait bridge. Clearly the Italian politicians look to Cardiff Council for strategic inactivity inspiration.
I wasn't expecting another Cardiff video so soon! It is absolutely crazy we have 90% of the circle complete, and even crazier, the bit that is missing is going through an industrial area.
As someone who commutes to Cardiff, having to deal with Rover Way is god damn awful at the best of times and an absolute nightmare that I will do anything to get around
Great stuff- this is a fascinating "not quite" road. The Rover Way section is literally bonkers. It's like a main road in Mexico or something. It is so obvious that it is a temporary fudge that has been in place for 50 years.
Wahey, you finally reached my home town. I could type a lot. In fairness, the connection to Ocean Way has done some good for traffic, although as a dual carriageway it is rather overbuilt. All the traffic that was smushed into Rover Way eastbound also used to be smushed onto the A4234 Central Link along with said link being the main route for shoppers, punters at the Cardiff Arena and some traffic for the Stadium. They then had to proceed along Fithamon Avenue and Newport Road or back down Ocean Way to the docks. Back in those days the traffic on that east side of the city centre was horrendous. Still, not building the flyover or even leaving room for one was a great shame and seems a little too much like vandalism.
then they undid all of the good they did, by closing half the roads north of the city and forcing all traffic around the prison in order to access the main parking, Cardiff stands as a fantastic example of why city planning is very important, but only because it's a great example of what not to do.
@@Corvus.2606I think if Rover Way were ever completed it and Central Link would become the signed way to the city centre from the East rather than Newport Road. I generally don't favour more road building but it's clear the demand is already there and improvements in the rail and light rail infrastructure in the area are happening too with the bay to Splott line and Cardiff Parkway station.
That new stretch of link road to a big roundabout, onto tiny roads blocked up with industrial traffic was 100% stolen by Cardiff from my Cities: Skylines map.
Nice to see you covering roads down our neck of the woods 😊😊 I remember the cutting of the A4232 north of Leckwith. A video series on the length of the A48 would be cool. A series called "Great Welsh Roads" did this years back. Theres a few old A48 cafes from th(e days where cars were slower and M4 didnt go past Port Talbot) here n there, not cafes any more.
Great video. And it's yet another one which shows how useless most councils and road planners are when it comes to planning new roads and decision making.
The only solution to traffic is viable alternatives to driving. The reason traffic is so bad in wales is because all this road building occured in the first place. The decision to cancel all road building and focus on a South Wales Metro is actually going to reduce traffic, which is the real reason for the scheme, not environemnt. How can you say after the last 60 years of road building that even more roads is the solution. That would only create more car journeys?
I spent many holidays with my grandparents, who lived in Penarth since the mid 1980's. Through all those years until 2019, we saw the building of the A4232 through its stages and the grangetown bridge hanging incomplete over the road Cardiff centre to Penarth, then the road just end for years until the next link (bridge over the bay and tunnel) was built. Plus the new Severn Bridge and the link roads to Penarth and the bay / barrage. As a child it was exciting to see how much was being built and all the new changes.
Back then there were quite a few road building schemes in Wales that were cancelled owing to lack of funding. The two examples I remember were the “Missing Link” of the M4 at Port Talbot/ Llandarcy and the “Heads of the Valley Road” AKA A465 between Glynneath & Aberdullais, where the under pass disappeared into a field. Luckily both were rectified in the 1990’s.
I love your music selection, the "take the high road" orchestral version had me guessing for a while, this one had me for about 10 secs, brilliant, keep it up, thanks.
I love living in Cardiff, but the traffic is crap!!! I spend hours sitting at traffic lights! Quicker to walk than drive - achieving 20mph is a pipe dream! 🫣
I've just driven through South Wales today, while it won't have been Cardiff exactly, the amount of major roadway construction happening was massive, with one giant bridge being constructed having all the concrete piece block frames in place, quite an incredible sight
On the other hand.... if you wanted to build a secret hidden bunker in central Cardiff, and have everyone completely ignore it....something like this would be a good way to do that.
Spot-on Sir, I had a feeling you wouldn't miss the opportunity to highlight the A4232 issues while down this neck of the woods. Could even see my house on the drone shot, which means I know exactly how unbelievably crap Rover Way is for the volume of traffic 🤣
I did a lot of construction work around Cardiff Bay in the 1990's. As I used to come down from the Midlands, I too remember how crap Rover Way was even back then. It didn't take long to work out that it was better to stay on the M4 to Cardiff Gate, then come down the A4232 from there.
The best part about the new section is how at Queen''s Gate the way it's been built made it impossible to use the ramps to build a flyover and at Ocean Way they just didn't bother making provision whatsoever. In the latter case, I suspect they've just accepted that they're never going to finish the road as planned.
Living in Cardiff, its frustrating to not see this road finished.. Rover Way at certain times of the day is jammed solid due to vehicle numbers and especially when certain locals are walking down it to feed their ponies.. but I can't see it ever being finished. Its not true however that the building of the newest bit hasn't helped with the traffic.. especially in Splott, which is where you used to have to go through to get onto Rover Way, although it has probably put a dent in the trade of the local ladies of the night with the reduction in vehicles passing by.
Super interesting. Never really known what the big block between the tunnel roads was for! If you ever take suggestions.. the A48 may be an interesting contender.. predecessor to the M4 and goes through many many different guises on its course edit: just seen two other comments in support of the A48 too.... ;)
Sat in work yesterday i was watching your videos and searched to see if you had covered this road, hours later you post this, what sort of coincidence is that😂 welldone with the video, great as always👍
I am finally getting the hang of your road system naming scheme…mostly. LOL!! You are a master at saying all those different road names and not getting tongue tied.
Extending the A4232 to the A48 to the East of Cardiff using parts of existing arterial road as well as a new tunnel would complete a Cardiff Bypass and would be a congestion buster. It’s simply the missing link and if built, this would be a game changer. And as it would link to the A48 east of Cardiff, which then flows into the M4, it would improve access to the Cardiff docks, which would get big trucks off local roads. It could also function as a second M4, though it would be a slower and would only really benefit those going in & out of Cardiff. I wonder if this was even the original plan for the M4?
I seem to remember the development plan for Cardiff that proposed these roads was called 'Centreplan 70'. I was born in Wales, but lived most of my working life in England. I made the mistake of moving back to Cardiff a few years ago - wish I hadn't now as the Welsh Government and Cardiff Council make Putin look like a benevolent genius 😢
And me! I live in the bay and work in Bristol and Rover Way is the bane of my existence some days (and a joy to cruise home down in the dead of night, don't tell SWP lol)
We were in Cardiff a short while ago, they'd closed the M4 so we joined the Newport to Cardiff Snailspace Car Park system. It wasn't fricking sweet awesome.... except we decided to takea break, headed down a country lane and found a decent pub with some nice food before rejoining the snailspace. That was FSA! 😊
Awesome video, love learning about roads and transport. As a Doctor Who fan and transport and road enthusiast i have to say i would love there to be an epsiode of Doctor Who that explained the reasons for this failed road building project as being to do with ailens.
Coincidentally just before the unfinished flyover, the road goes through a tunnel, which was actually used in Dr Who. The one with the bus that ends up on a desert planet
@@yusufkhan-ig7dv The bridge on the Bay side of the tunnel was also used for another Dr Who episode too, it’s the one where Donna is in the taxi with the robot Santa
Maybe that could be part of the unfinished A48(M) to pass underneath Cardiff City Centre. And to reconnect with the M4 motorway to the west of Cardiff heading towards Swansea.
The Welsh government seems to think slowing traffic down to its lowest efficiency speeds and keeping it in an area longer will reduce emissions and help the environment
I know you mostly do motorways but any thoughts about making a video about the a350? The land for a dual carriageway is there along it from the m4 to melksham but they made half of it and callled it a day. It was the bane of my existence for about 8yrs when working in chippenham. They did some work north of chippenham expanding ~1km to a dual carriageway (absolute nightmare commuting through roadworks for years) but stopped, again. Went along it on the weekend (salisbury to the m4) for the first time in 5yrs and the traffic was still awful and no further widening had been made.
Making the A350 a dual carriageway would be ideal situation for us all and ease traffic immediately. Unfortunately however, not all of the A350 would be able to have an additional two lanes added to make it dual. Plus, given the costs of planning and actually building etc, the government and councils will more than likely only do the most needed parts and the least possible in road building, to make it look like they are doing something although without spending too much. Therefore, we are always going to have to put up with bits as single lane A road and others as dual.
You mention Chippenham, well they are looking at making it mostly dual, although that could end up not happening "Following a public inquiry in the 1990s, the A350 dual carriageway Chippenham bypass scheme was granted planning consent. Although initially built as a single carriageway, the highways boundary was secured and bridges were constructed to future-proof the bypass corridor for the full dualling." "Between November 2022 and February 2023, we asked residents and businesses in the Chippenham area, and wider A350 users, to share their views on phases 4 and 5 of plans to turn the remaining single carriageway sections of the A350 at Chippenham into dual carriageways." As we know, this will not be possible with the whole A350 as some parts are too enclosed to be widened etc, so only certain parts will ever be dual or talked about being dual, unless they look at future bypasses etc.
Salisbury, now there's one that always most definitely needs making full dual carriageway along the A303 from Winterbourne, along Stonehenge to Amesbury. Tunnel or dual whatever, or at least put a fence to stop so many tourists or holiday makers rubber necking Stonehenge as they go past lol
I remember coming down the A4232 from the M4 (jnc 33) and thinking it was a stroke of genius, even though the surface was very rough ( hopefully it's been redone). Then you hit the Queen's Gate tunnel, which when built went under nothing! Then there was no money to finish the rest of the road 😵💫
I've lived/worked in South Cardiff for 35 years. Suffered from lunacy of not completing last leg to the tune of 1000s hours of sitting in traffic. X100000 other drivers. What a crippling, pointless, easily solved, effect on local economy. Where is leadership? Local folk law also suggests final link was not built due to Swansea AM jealous of Cardiff "getting all the money" and blocking approval process, but that could be just rumour.
Thanks, great video as always. Politicians burying their heads in the sand as usual, hoping the problem (traffic) to go away LOL, same here in Norway. Norway built 4 kms or 2.5 miles of new motorway in 2023. At this pace the highly needed motorway construction will take some 250 years. And it can't be because we lack funding, it's crazy politics not building what is macro economically sound. An efficient transport network is good for both economy and environment, but it seems politicians are oblivious to that fact. Greetings from Norway 🙂
I've ridden along Rover Way on both bicycle and motorbike, and one was only marginally less terrifying than the other. And despite that, even in a car it's unbelievably dangerous and horribly narrow, being a small road not designed for this sort of traffic. And if you are a pedestrian? Forget it. You're better off going through the park or side lanes, as walking along that road would be akin to dancing with death. As a cherry on top of this turd sundae, the road has little in the way of speed restrictions, and the trucks that rumble along there kick up enough stone and gravel to fill that Sahara. On the plus side(!), the local windscreen repair shops must love this road! 😅
And the travelling fraternity who reside on that road litter the place full of trash. I’m ashamed to take any guests we have from elsewhere on that road, I will any other route so they don’t have to see it! Part of the problem in Wales is that the first minister doesn’t drive. He is clueless!
that new bit of A4232 reminds me of the old A555 south of manchester. A primary route taking people from two roundabouts at one relatively quiet road to...a roundabout at a junction with another minor A road
Luckily, they almost sort of finished the A555, so now it links the airport to Hazel Grove in a nice, quick route, roughly following where the A6(M) was going to go. Except for the bit at Hazel Grove, which is a bloody nightmare…
The unfinished A 4232 duel carriageway, ( starts at junction 33 M4 )locally known as concrete Alley, This is because most of the road is made of concrete instead of tarmac.
During my teens in Cardiff (last century!) there was a road building scheme called the "Hook Road" which was to run in a North-South direction with the demolition of thousands of homes. I think it was dreamed up by some genius called Buchanan (not 100% certain of the name) but it was luckily cancelled. It is regrettable that incompetence has reared its ugly head again in Cardiff. It used to be a lovely city.
Thank you for recalling the Hook Road. Its name was so simple and memorable - and had such a threatening tone - that it lives on in memory long after public opposition forced Cardiff City Council to scrap it - in 1973 I think. At 0:57 the 1968 urban motorways plan for Cardiff is shown, Can anyone identify which of the proposed roads shown there (they have names not numbers) is what was known in the city as the Hook Road?
@@marc21091 It might be the road marked as Central Primary, but it is so long ago that I am not sure. Perhaps someone else may have a better memory. My Dad worked for a construction firm that built the Heads of the Valleys Road amongst other projects, but even he thought the Hook Road was a stupid scheme.
@@MervynPartin It’s changed, and the roads are far more congested and complicated than Cardiff’s. It used to be the go-to shopping town for West Wales but now, most people carry on past it on the M4 to Cardiff and StDavid’s centre and all the exhibition centres with shows, and nice hotels there.
I was a student in that neck of the woods at the turn of the '90s and (being obviously poor) didn't do much driving, but it's always struck me that the way into the north of the city (the A48) is great (I lived up in Penylan), but if you want to head towards the docks from the east, everything just snarls up. The last time I went to Cardiff, knowing I was heading to that area I purposely went by train instead and just walked from Cardiff Central. The joy of Cardiff in December.... Seeing this video puts it into perspective - I never imagined (...) that there might have been a knackered road scheme. Nothing surprises me about Wales with Drakeford in charge - props to the commenter who mentioned about cyclists needing to keep a 5ft separation when overtaking cars in the 20mph zones now.
