Road set to close for five months to allow safety work to be carried out

Anthony Lewis, local democracy reporter

A Valleys road is set to close for five months so rock netting destroyed in a fire can be repaired.

The Rhigos Road will be closed from July 22 until December 10 this year with a traffic order coming into affect to allow works to the rock netting.

Back in August, 2022, a grass fire melted fencing on the roadside allowing boulders to fall onto the road itself which led to a closure.

People were warned to stay away from the area and specialist rope access contractors were brought in to remove loose material and inspect netting to assess the full scale of damage with emergency works carried out to make the area safe.

‘Extremely dangerous’

The council said at the time that the route was “extremely dangerous” with rocks falling on to the road and urged people not to attempt to access it.

In a post on Facebook, Treherbert councillor Scott Emanuel said: “We have received notification this morning with regards to a traffic order on the Rhigos road which is necessary to replace the netting destroyed by the fire.

“The order is necessary to allow: Rhigos Road Rock Netting – Remediation Works and will operate as follows: Full Closure from 22nd July 2024 to 10th December 2024.

“I never anticipated this closure would be this long, we have been in contact with highways this morning to ask if there are any other potential options and if there will be allowances for emergency vehicles etc.

“We will keep everybody updated when we have more information.”