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Concept
A4061 road
Summary
The A4061 is the main road linking Bridgend with Hirwaun via the Ogmore and Rhondda Valleys in South Wales. It is a mix of streets connecting former mining communities, and mountain passes built as relief work for unemployed miners.
The road was originally a dead-end from Bridgend along the Ogmore Valley built in the 19th century, but concerns over travel difficulties, environment and post-World War I unemployment in the Rhondda led to a series of mountain roads being planned. The road was initially extended over the Bwlch-y-Clawdd towards Treorchy in 1928. A further section, from Treherbert northward to Hirwaun, opened the following year. As well as improving communications and transport, the A4061 allowed locals to visit the mountain summits easily for leisure purposes. Ice cream vans have been a regular feature at the two summits, Bwlch-y-Clawdd and Rhigos, since the 1930s.
The A4061 has been praised for its engineering and scenery, including a feature in National Geographic, and formed part of the Olympic Torch route in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics.
The A4061 is about from south to north, but its winding sections make it longer in road miles. It has four main sections, which from south to north are:
the road through the Ogmore Valley,
the Bwlch-y-Clawdd Road (also known as "the Bwlch"), reaching a summit of between the Ogmore and Rhondda Fawr valleys,
the road through the Rhondda Fawr valley, and
the Rhigos Road, with a summit of between the Rhondda Fawr valley and Rhigos in the Cynon Valley.
The road meets the M4 (the motorway that runs across South Wales) at Sarn Park services; it also meets the A4107 mountain road to Abergwynfi, the A4058 Rhondda Fawr valley road to Porth and Pontypridd and the Heads of the Valleys Road. The two mountain sections feature numerous hairpin bends, and the section along the Bwlch-y-Clawdd is sited on top of a perfect geological fault.
Settlements served by the road include (from south to north) Bridgend, Sarn, Bryncethin, Blackmill, Lewistown, Ogmore Vale, Price Town, Nantymoel, Treorchy, Ynyswen, Penyrenglyn, Treherbert and Hirwaun.
Official source
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