A48(M) motorway

UK motorway routebox
motorway= A48(M)
length-mi= 2
length-km= 3.2
direction= East - West
start= Castleton, Newport
destinations= Cardiff
end= St Mellons
opening-date= 1977
completion-date= 1977
junctions= 29 -

The A48(M) is a motorway in Wales between Cardiff and Newport. It is a spur off the M4 into eastern Cardiff. It is convert|2|mi|km long and is a 2-lane motorway throughout its length. At St Mellons it runs continuously into a further 6 miles of the dual-carriageway A48, which also features (albeit narrow) hard shoulders [http://pathetic.org.uk/current/a48m/ Pathetic Motorways - A48(M)] ] .

It opened in 1977 [http://www.iht.org/motorway/m4walesstat.htm The Motorway Archive - M4 Dates] ] , originally as an ending for the M4. The M4 was subsequently extended from junction 29 in 1980 and this section of road was renumbered A48(M). It has been suggested that its continuation westwards was projected to be from St Mellons.

The A48(M) has the unusual feature of having no junction options: at both ends it simply leads into limited-access junctions. It is also the only motorway to be entirely in Wales, as the other motorways, M4 and M48, cross into England.

Junctions

Other A48(M)s

*Another motorway, the 6-mile Port Talbot bypass which opened in 1966, was numbered A48(M) before its incorporation into the westward extension of the M4 in the 1970s. [ [http://pathetic.org.uk/lost/a48m_port_talbot_bypass/ Pathetic Motorways - A48(M) Port Talbot Bypass] ]
*Some maps show the Morriston bypass section of the M4 as also having been originally numbered A48(M), although whether this number was ever used on the ground has been questioned. [ [http://pathetic.org.uk/lost/a48m_morriston_bypass/ Pathetic Motorways - A48(M) Morriston Bypass] ]

See also

*List of motorways in the United Kingdom
*Transport in Wales

References

External links

* [http://www.cbrd.co.uk/motorway/a48m/ CBRD Motorway Database - A48(M)]
* [http://pathetic.org.uk/current/a48m/ Pathetic Motorways - A48(M)]
* [http://local.google.co.uk/local?f=q&hl=en&q=cardiff&ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=51.549858,-3.075271&spn=0.002996,0.010729&t=k&om=1 Google Local Aerial Shot Of Abandoned Carrigeway]