Major culvert upgrades completed at A4061 Rhigos Road

The Council has now completed major upgrades to two culverts at A4061 Rhigos Road near the Tower Colliery site – using Welsh Government funding to significantly improve the infrastructure’s capacity in heavy rainfall. 

The works started in January 2022 and are designed to alleviate the risk of flooding at the A4061, by upgrading culverts at two locations between Hirwaun Industrial Estate and the A465 roundabout. The new culverts are much larger structures with multiple pipes connected underneath the road, complete with new inlet and outlets that include structures to catch debris.

The Council has now completed all of its work to deliver the culvert upgrades, with the major improvements illustrated in the images included above.

The scheme has been delivered by a combination of Council and Welsh Government Resilient Roads funding. The Resilient Roads fund is available to Local Authorities to deliver targeted drainage improvements on areas of their road network that have a history of flooding. The Council secured £4.9m to improve 16 locations in 2020/21, £2.75m to progress works at 19 locations in 2021/22, and an extra £400,000 for 10 further schemes this year (2022/23).

While the culvert improvements at Rhigos Road are complete, BT Openreach will carry out complementary work to its apparatus in the coming weeks – which will last a few days and be the final work associated with the scheme.

Councillor Andrew Morgan OBE, Leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf Council and Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Investment, said: “I’m pleased that this major investment has now been delivered by the Council alongside Welsh Government. This section of Rhigos Road near Tower Colliery has a history of flooding during heavy rainfall, and the existing culverts have now been replaced with much larger structures that can cope with a far greater capacity of rainwater – alleviating the flood risk at this location in the future.

“The Council has secured more than £8m from the Resilient Roads grant over the past three years, with £400,000 secured for 10 new schemes this year. Significant flood alleviation works have been delivered since 2020/21 at the Porth Relief Road in Ynyshir, Hermon Street and High Street in Treorchy, and at various sections of the A4059 – from Penywaun to Trecynon, near Asda Roundabout in Aberaman, and between Mountain Ash and Abercynon last summer. Work is also currently ongoing south of Newtown in Mountain Ash.

“The upgrades to the culverts at Rhigos Road are now complete, with only utilities works left to be completed over a few days in the coming weeks. The progress images show the substantial improvements that have been made in recent months, as the Council continues to deliver targeted flood alleviation work to tackle those locations deemed most at-risk in future storms. Thanks to the community for your cooperation while this latest scheme was delivered.”