A494 road

The A494 is an important trunk road in Wales. The road runs from Drome Corner near Queensferry, the junction of the A548 towards Chester and A550, to Dolgellau, where the road terminates on the A470.

Queensferry to Ewloe

This section forms part of the North Wales coast route between Holyhead and the M56 motorway. The section of the A494 north of the River Dee was upgraded to 4-lanes plus hard shoulders in each direction in 2004 as part of a wider scheme, which upgraded the A550 as well, although not all of the lanes on the A494 have been opened. Two more schemes are in planning.

The next scheme to begin will be a widening of the A494 between the River Dee and the Ewloe Interchange, the junction of the A55 and A494, to 3 and 4-lane plus hard shoulder standard. When this scheme is complete, the remaining lanes on the A494 north of the River Dee will be opened.

There will then be a scheme to improve the Ewloe Interchange itself.

When all of the schemes are completed, this would leave a motorway standard road as far as the England/Wales border, although it's not clear whether it would actually be classified as a motorway or not. With the future upgrade of the A5117[1][2] between the A494/A550 and M56 going ahead in the near future, the entire route would be a continuation of the M56 and carry the same number.

This section of road is only about 4 miles (6 km) in length, but is undoubtedly one of the most important sections, and also the busiest.

Ewloe to Corwen

South of the Ewloe interchange, the A494 is entirely single-carriageway trunk road, with much lower traffic flows than the A494 to the north of the Ewloe Interchange. This section is approximately 25 miles (40 km) in length. There is a bypass for Mold before the road runs through Ruthin and several smaller villages before meeting the A5 at Corwen at a T-junction. There follows a short concurrency with the A5 at this point.

Despite being the most important road in this area, much of the traffic follows the largely parallel A5104 between the A55 and Corwen.

Druid to Dolgellau

The A494 emerges from the concurrency with the A5 at Druid, heading south-west for a further 27 miles (44 km) to the town of Dolgellau. After a few miles from Druid, it runs through the town of Bala, before meeting Llyn Tegid. As it does so, the road enters the Snowdonia National Park. It runs along the side of the lake for 4 miles (6 km), after which it largely follows the Afon Wnion with the famous mountain Cadair Idris in front, before terminating at Dolgellau at a T-junction with the A470, itself an important trunk route in Wales.

External links

• Road to Nowhere: A494