In the 1850's road communications played
no part in the economic development of the
Lower Rhondda. As a result the only
communicating links between the Rhondda
Valleys and the neighbouring valleys and
towns were the mountain ridgeways or cefn
ffrydd and of these the main ones
were the following:-
-
The ridgeway leading northwards past
Blaenrhondda and Llyn-Fawr to meet the
Neath-Aberdare road;
-
The ridgeway leading westwards past
Maendy through Bwlch-y-clawdd to the
Garw Valley and Margam;
-
The ridgeway leading eastwards to
Llanwynno over Penrhys; and
South-westwards the ridgeway to
Llantrisant via Cymmer and Trebanog.
There were no valley road southwards
towards [Newbridge] Pontypridd and to the
nearest turn-pike road, the Merthyr to
Cardiff highway, but there was a Llanwynno
parish ridgeway.
During the period 1860 to 1880 the chief
road improvements were mainly due to the
individual efforts of various colliery
owners who constructed roads in the region
of their collieries and company-houses.
In the early 1860's the Bute Trustees
suggested to their co-landowners that a main
valley road laid down to a width of 50 feet
[15.24 metres] throughout the Rhondda Fawr
and the Lower Rhondda from Treherbert to
Pontypridd. However, the majority disagreed.
As a result most of the other main and
lateral roads were laid down to a width of
about 20 feet [6.09 metres]. Since 1897 the
local authority have spent vast sums of
money attempting to rectify these grave
errors.
During the first two decades of the C20th
the Rhondda Valleys were served by only two
roads throughout the length of the main
valleys and meeting at Tynewydd, Porth. It
was after the Pentre landslide of October
1916, when road communication between the
Upper Rhondda Fawr and Lower Rhondda were
very nearly severed that the necessity for
duplicating these main roads was first fully
appreciated.
Another important drawback in Rhondda road
communications at the beginning of the
C20th. was the almost entire absence of
transport links with other Glamorgan
Valleys. Although the ridgeways from
Aberdare to Maerdy had been improved, the
upper parts of the Rhondda Fawr valley and
the lateral valleys of Cwm-Clydach and
Cwmparc were cul-de-sac. As a result, on 3rd.
February 1928 the road from Cwmparc to
Cymmer Afon via Bwlch-y-Clawdd was opened
and on 4th. November 1929 the
road from Treherbert to Hirwaun via Llyn
Fawr was opened.