A £60m upgrade to a key road for tourism and freight in south-west Wales brings “light at the end of the tunnel” after years of congestion, but more projects are needed in Wales, a haulier has said.
The improvements to the four-mile stretch of the A40 near Narberth, Pembrokeshire, are designed to help traffic.
Construction on the road began four years ago, before the Welsh government’s decision in 2023 to cancel all future road building projects.
Haulage company director Scott Davies welcomed the new stretch of road, but said work was needed elsewhere, such as a relief road around Newport, which the Welsh government previously said had “come and gone”.
The upgraded carriageway is not dualled but does include more places to overtake safely.
There have been improvements to roundabouts, while new junctions have been built at Llanddewi Velfrey and Redstone Cross.
Summer traffic in the area can increase by 30%, with the holiday congestion becoming a key factor in planning to upgrade the route.
The Welsh government said the work would reduce journey times to ports such as Milford Haven, Wales’ busiest for freight which handles about 40 million tonnes per year, as well as Fishguard and Pembroke Dock.
“The improvement was definitely needed,” said Mr Davies, a director of Mansel Davies haulage company.
“Hopefully we’ll see the benefits of the new roads, with the two lanes in some areas for overtaking.”
He said school holidays used to be a “terrible” time on the road.
“We’re very lucky in our area, we do have the beautiful coast. However, it does bring many holidaymakers down to add the extra pressure on the road networks. So it was needed.”
But he added road improvements were also needed elsewhere on the south Wales network, with a “desperate” need for a relief road around Newport.
“It’s a bottleneck. At the end of the day, there’s three lanes going into two.
“There is a lot of traffic coming into Wales, and it is an issue that needs addressing.”
All road building projects were scrapped under Mark Drakeford’s administration, but that stance has been slightly softened under the current Welsh government, although it has said it would not build a relief road around Newport.
Along the upgraded A40 there is optimism about the impact of the improved road, following years of disruption.
“It’s done, thank goodness it’s finished and let’s see how it goes,” said Clive Edwards of Taf Valley Coaches.
He said he was looking forward “to some kind of normal, and hope that everything will operate safely once the improvements are done.”
Wales’ transport secretary said the Welsh government continued to build roads and develop new road schemes “in a better way, where they are the right solution consistent with the climate and nature emergencies”.
“Fixing our roads is a priority. We recently announced a further £25m to renew Wales’ major roads and prevent around 30,000 road defects, and we’ve unlocked £120m to improve local authority roads,” Skates added.
