The Council is giving advanced notice of upcoming work at Margaret Street in Pontygwaith, to further investigate a damaged section of embankment – with a free shuttle bus service arranged across two weekends of road closures.
The Council has previously appointed Quantum Geotechnical Ltd as the contractor to carry out investigations to the retaining wall and embankment, which were damaged by Storm Christoph in January 2021. The investigations will inform the design of any scheme to stabilise the slope and repair the wall – while a lane closure remains in place on Margaret Street to ensure safety.
The latest site activity included drilling two boreholes, which were completed on February 1. The next stage requires a ramp to be constructed in the closed lane, to enable access onto the embankment – scheduled to take place from 8am on Saturday, February 19, to 6pm on Sunday, February 20.
A 170-metre section of the road will close during this period, from a point just east of 43 Margaret Street to a point just west of Lewis Terrace. An alternative route for motorists is via Aberllechau Road, A4233, Stanleytown Roundabout, Llewellyn Street and Margaret Street – or this route in reverse order. Access will be maintained for pedestrians, but not for emergency service vehicles.
A map outlining the road closure can be found here
This road closure will then be replicated for the removal of the ramp – from 8am on Saturday, February 26, to 6pm on Sunday, February 27.
Local bus and shuttle bus arrangements
During each closure, Stagecoach Services 124, 131 and 132 will be unable to serve Wattstown and Pontygwaith – so a free shuttle bus service operated by Xarrow Travel Ltd (available to contact on 07967 636659) will run locally.
The shuttle bus will operate every 30 minutes on Saturdays and every hour on Sundays. It will run in a continuous loop, starting at Wattstown Rugby Club for travel into Wattstown, using Calfaria bus stop (southbound) as a focal point for all passenger pick-ups and for connections to onward bus services in both directions.
It will then travel to Pontygwaith via the bypass and Llewellyn Street – picking up and setting down at the southbound Community Centre and Brewery Terrace (Cosmo Club) stops – before going onto the Jubilee Hotel stop in Tylorstown for northbound connections. It will return via the bypass to Watttstown Rugby club for southbound connections.
Bus stops will be taken out of use at Margaret Street in Pontygwaith and Lewis Terrace in Wattstown for the duration of each closure. Bus users should use the nearby stops at Cosmo Club, Brewery Street or Calfaria respectively.
Onward travel southbound to Porth, Pontypridd and Cardiff is available from Wattstown Rugby Club, and onward travel northbound to Ferndale and Maerdy is available from Jubilee Hotel. They will connect to Stagecoach services running at intervals between 8am to 10.23pm on Saturdays, and 7.22am to 5.22pm on Sundays. Please note, there are no services running from 8.22am to 10.22am on the two Sundays (February 20 and 27).
Service 155 will be unable to serve Wattstown during the closure, but will continue to serve Pontygwaith on its normal route during both Saturday road closures (February 19 and 26). Thomas Coaches Service 133 (Wattstown-Llwyncelyn) will also operate as normal on both Saturdays.
The Council would like to thank residents, road users and public transport users for their patience and cooperation as the ground investigations take place. The works are essential to inform the future schemes that are required to rectify the embankment and retaining wall damage at Margaret Street.
Posted on 10/02/2022