Council improves walking and cycling routes with new bridge

Nation Cymru staff

A Welsh council has made additional improvements to routes connecting to an active travel bridge over the River Usk, as house building continues to connect an ever-expanding town with nearby villages.

Residents travelling between Llanfoist and Abergavenny are set to benefit from safer and more accessible walking, wheeling and cycling routes.

Monmouthshire County Council is making progress with plans for additional improvements to the route between The Cutting in Llanfoist and the new active travel bridge, following a £3.6m boost from Cardiff Capital Region’s Regional Transport Fund.

The improvements will help make everyday journeys easier for people travelling to Abergavenny town centre, Castle Meadows, local shops, schools, work and nearby communities without needing to rely on a car.

The active travel bridge is already under construction. This next section focuses on the local route connecting to the bridge and will address long-standing issues along Merthyr Road, south of Usk Bridge, including narrow sections of footway, limited crossing points and no provision for cycling.

Following public and stakeholder consultation, this section of the scheme has been finalised to update the road and footway layout from The Cutting and Waitrose roundabout, along Merthyr Road towards the existing bridge and the future active travel bridge.
Planned works include new and improved crossings, accessible dropped kerbs, better footway continuity, a shared-use path and additional highway resurfacing in the Llanfoist area.

Construction of the additional links is currently planned for winter 2026 to spring 2027.

Cllr Sara Burch, Monmouthshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Rural Affairs, Housing and Tourism, said: “This is about making everyday journeys easier for local people. Whether residents are travelling to work, school, the shops or Castle Meadows, these improvements will help make walking, wheeling and cycling safer and more accessible.

“I am pleased we are able to do the much-needed road resurfacing alongside the new pedestrian crossings and other improvements.

There will be some disruption while works are carried out, but we’ll all see a big benefit when it’s completed.

“By improving the links between Llanfoist and Abergavenny, we can give more people a real choice in how they travel.”

Castle Meadows

Work on the new river bridge so pedestrians and cyclists can avoid a narrow footpath along the busy main road have now begun.

The car free bridge, which will make journeys by foot and bicycle to a town centre, hospital local secondary school, a rail and bus station and a Waitrose supermarket, safer has been in the planning for more than 15 years and was granted planning permission eight years ago.

Work on the first phase of the Llanfoist to Abergavenny active travel bridge has already been completed and Monmouthshire County Council’s Labour/Green Party cabinet has agreed to the schedule of construction costs for the second stage and to exchange contracts with Balfour Beatty.

The decision means work can get underway this month with only a tight window for working in the river Usk, which is designated as a Special Area of Conservation.

The council was awarded £10.4 million construction funding from the Welsh Government’s active travel fund and has agreed a contract price with Balfour Beatty of £8.351m. It also has a further £3.6m this year, from the regional transport fund, to improve links to the new bridge on both sides of the river.

However that work will only be confirmed once it is known if construction of the bridge will run into a third year, in summer 2028, if river working and weather conditions mean the bridge is unable to be completed by September 2027.

Councillor Sara Burch said environmental body Natural Resources Wales also had to be satisfied on the construction plans due to impact on the river and Castle Meadows, where the bridge will land on the Abergavenny side, which is a protected site of special scientific interest and which suffers seasonal flooding.

The Labour councillor said: “It has taken a frustratingly long time but is the construction of a bridge in a triple S I spanning one of Wales’ most turbulent rivers.”

A steel structure, which is assembled off site, will be installed when work in the river is completed.

Labour’s Abergavenny Grofield councillor Laura Wright asked what arrangements would be in place to maintain access to Castle Meadows and Cllr Burch said thee will be a work compound and said the council has also been in contact with local groups and will also display information in the area.

Llanfoist Labour member Cllr Ben Callard said he isn’t a “nervous parent” but said crossing Merthyr Road, using the narrow pavement on only one side of the current listed bridge, while cycling with his eight-year-old, was uncomfortable.

He said: “It was still pretty scary coming across that bridge with the main road. I look forward to seeing it completed.”

More information about the wider scheme is available here: www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/highways/active-travel/active-travel-in-abergavenny-and-llanfoist/

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