A48 road

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Image:UK road A48.PNG

A48 road

Direction

Start

Highnam

Primary
destinations

Chepstow, Newport, Cardiff, Bridgend, Port Talbot, Neath, Swansea

End

Carmarthen

Roads joined

Euroroute(s)

E 30

The A48 is an Anglo-Welsh major trunk road. It runs from the A40 at Highnam (3 miles west of Gloucester) to the A40 at Carmarthen. Before the construction of the M4 motorway and the first Severn bridge in the mid 1960s it was the principal route into south Wales. For most of its journey through Wales, it runs almost parallel to its successor. Before the construction of the Second Severn Crossing, during times of high winds at the Severn Bridge the A48 was used as part of the diversion route, and is still marked as a Holiday Route.

From Gloucester the A48 runs through the villages of Minsterworth, Westbury-on-Severn, connects to a link road to Cinderford in the Forest of Dean then through Newnham, Blakeney and bypassing the town of Lydney (the bypass was built in the 1990s) on the west bank of the River Severn. Continuing west along the South Wales coast, it connects Chepstow (also bypassed), Newport, Cardiff, Cowbridge, Bridgend, Pyle, Port Talbot, Neath, Swansea before terminating at Carmarthen.

There is a motorway section (the A48(M)) which is a spur of the M4 starting at junction 29 and ending with the main A48 at St Mellons, Cardiff.

Part of the A48 forms a section of the unsigned Euroroute E30.

[edit] History of the road number

The original (1923) route of the A48 was Worcester to Carmarthen via Malvern, Ledbury, Ross, Monmouth, Newport, Cardiff, Bridgend, Neath and Llanelli. In 1935 it was rerouted east of Newport, replacing the A437 between Newport and Gloucester. The road from Worcester to Newport became part of the A449, apart from the section between Ross and Monmouth (which became part of the A40).

v • d • e A roads in Zone 4 of the Great Britain road numbering scheme
A4 • A40 • A41 • A42 • A43 • A44 • A45 • A46 • A47 • A48 • A49 • A403 • A404 • A406 • A412 • A413 • A414 • A417 • A418 • A419
A420 • A421 • A422 • A423 • A425 • A426 • A427 • A428 • A429 • A431 • A432 • A435 • A441 • A442 • A445 • A449 • A452 • A453 • A454 • A456 • A458
A465 • A468 • A470 • A472 • A478 • A482 • A483 • A487 • A488 • A489 • A494 • A497 • A498 • A499
A4006 • A4012 • A4018 • A4025 • A4032 • A4040 • A4042 • A4050 • A4080 • A4085 • A4094 • A4103 • A4113 • A4117 • A4133 • A4135 • A4142 • A4146
A4150 • A4155 • A4161 • A4173 • A4174 • A4196 • A4202 • A4212 • A4232 • A4234 • A4260 • A4361 • A4400 • A4536 • A4540
List of A roads in Zone 4