Landslide fix for 'invaluable' road nearing completion after five-year nightmare

North Wales Live

11-08-2025

Landslide repairs to a key Wrexham road are nearing fulfillment, according to a council report. Having been closed for more than four-and-a-half years, remediation work on the B5605 is edging towards 'substantial completion'.
The road between Newbridge and Cefn Mawr has been closed since Storm Christoph in January 2021. Heavy downpours caused part of the road to collapse down the Gelli Wood embankment into the River Dee, forcing drivers to take lengthy diversions.
Funding challenges meant renovations didn't start until 2024. The scheme was scheduled for completion this summer but 'unforeseen circumstances' meant this was revised to 'Q3 2025'. A local councillor has said he expects the work to finish in October.
At the start of the year major shotcrete and underpinning work stabilised the upper section of the bank beneath the old road. A temporary access track was built down to the river following some minor tree felling.
The most critical part of the project was the construction of a bored piled wall beneath the road near the river. This was designed both to support the rebuilt embankment and to protect it from river scouring.
An update sent to councillors last week detailed recent work on the complex engineering project. The new reinforced concrete retaining wall has emerged over the summer and is now complete.
Some 12,000 tonnes of in-fill stone are being brought to the site to rebuild the embankment. This is being added in layers and compressed to create the required profile.
To guard against 'soft spots' in the compressed embankment, contractors Jones Bros wrote: 'Nuclear Density Testing (NDT) is being carried out and this exercise will be repeated on each layer going forward.
'Some soft spot areas identified during the compaction testing have been remediated.'
Traditional stone walls are also being built alongside the 'Fisherman Path' to soften the visual impact of the brutal concrete retaining structure.
Following the in-fill operation, the road itself will be reconstructed before the route can reopen to traffic. The final step will be to place a ready-built parapet wall along the road - this is being manufactured off site.
Alterations to street lighting are underway already, with new pillars being installed and old columns being removed.
In its latest report, Jones Bros added: 'The reinstatement of the embankment supporting the realigned highway is continuing as programmed.
'The final embankment will be subject to landscaping works and as the scheme proceeds towards substantial completion, necessary cyclic maintenance works will continue to be arranged both to the north and south of the 'slip area' in anticipation of opening the project to through traffic.'
When the road collapsed in January 2021, it saw some journeys extended by up to 15 miles, causing huge frustration for residents and local businesses.
Drivers have been unable to use the road as a diversion route when the A483 viaducts are closed by bad weather or traffic incidents. On occasions this has caused gridlock in Llangollen, the alternative diversion route further along the Dee Valley.
In its early stages the project was blocked by the Welsh Government because it would 'only benefit the highway', so falling outside the criteria for storm damage funding to reduce residential flooding.
The breakthrough came in May 2022 after Wrexham Council submitted a business case following complex geo-technical surveys.
The Welsh Government awarded the full £2.8m funding, with officials accepting the road's importance as both a local link and a diversion route for the A483 trunk road.
Cardiff subsequently awarded another £2.6m, bringing the scheme's final cost to almost £5.6m. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox
Last year Ken Skates, cabinet member for transport and North Wales, said the restored road would be 'invaluable for everybody'.