Dozens of placard-waving protesters, including two women in their eighties, took part in a protest on Saturday to highlight the affect the A465 Gilwern-Brynmawr dualling scheme is having on their everyday lives.

Their main concern is the size and number of vehicles regularly using Maesygwartha road as a rat-run to avoid traffic delays and weekend closures on the Heads of the Valleys road.

Traffic on the narrow country lane, originally built in the 18th century to carry limestone trolleys, is currently reaching speeds of up to 60mph and residents say it’s only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or killed.

The protest, which blocked the road from Bethlehem Chapel to Machine House (near the Gilwern junction) for more than an hour, was organised by Garry Hill who is leading an unofficial residents’ committee.

Among the protestors was a woman of 86 and another aged 87 who felt so strongly about the situation that, according to Garry, she walked a mile along the road on crutches.

Garry says that the residents attempts to take on Costain, the Welsh Government and MCC are ‘like David fighting Goliath’.

“The situation where we live is getting worse all the time,” he said. “It’s not just ordinary motorists using this route to avoid the A465 - Costain’s own mini buses and work trucks are using the lane as a rat-run too. We have to keep raising these issues before there’s a terrible tragedy.

“During the weekends when they close the A465 completely it’s not worth living up here.

“And there are road rage incidents every day. Drivers refuse to give way or slow down and there’s only just space for two cars to pass. Wing mirrors get knocked off, tempers flare, on one occasion there was even a fist fight between two men, with a woman joining in! Dignity seems to go out of the window.

“A pedestrian has also been bumped and spun round by a passing car, which kept on going. And last Sunday at around 5.30pm a 25-tonne lorry got jammed in Maesygwartha road and the driver had to knock up people in their homes to move their parked cars.

“The police don’t seem to want to know. They only get involved when there’s a protest, to make sure WE’RE not causing an affray. And, for the duration of the protest, they only closed the road at the Gilwern end, so traffic was still speeding down from Brynmawr!

“What we want as a matter of urgency are ‘access only’ and diversion signs at BOTH the Gilwern and Brynmawr ends of the road.”

Garry says that if something isn’t done the next step for local residents will be a much bigger march to Costain’s yard across the A465, which he says is guaranteed to attract a lot of attention.

A spokesperson for the developers, Costain, told the Chronicle, “We understand there are issues at Maesygwartha that we take very seriously. We are currently in further discussions with Gwent Police and Monmouthshire County Council about how to address some of them.

“We are in the early stages of arranging a Public Meeting with the residents of Maesygwartha for later this month, where members of the Project Team will be available to discuss on-going concerns and outline further potential measures that could be implemented in and around the village.”

Costain say they continuously monitor and review the situation relating to traffic and any disruption caused by the weekend road closures or any other restrictions on the A465.

“We have an official diversion in place via Pontypool that is suitable for all vehicles including HGVs. This diversion is promoted on the Traffic Wales website and our social media channels. No official local diversion routes exist other than the signed diversion route.

“To reduce the impact of traffic using local roads, we display signs stating ‘No access to the A465’, ‘No access for HGVs’ and there are also 7.5 tonne weight limit restrictions and signs in place.

“We are in discussions with the police and local authority to ensure that the weight limit restriction is enforced and additional traffic calming measures are to be implemented in the coming weeks to further discourage inappropriate driver behaviour.  

“Our current strategy has been developed in conjunction with Monmouthshire County Council and Gwent Police with the aim to divert as much of the traffic as possible remote from the scheme.

“The strategy is constantly reviewed to see what, if any improvements can be made.”

A spokesman for MCC said, “Monmouthshire’s Highways Officers will meet with Welsh Government representatives on Wednesday (May 10) to consider proposals to discourage through traffic at Maesygwartha, and these may be exhibited at a future public meeting.

“Meanwhile it will be difficult for the council to create an ‘access only’ zone on Maesygwartha road as it would be impracticable for Gwent Police to enforce such an order.”

•At the start of the week, dozens of residents in the Clydach area were bemoaning the fact that they had no telephone or broadband connection, after someone had ‘pulled the wrong wire’ during construction work on the A465 scheme on Sunday.

Costain told us, “A BT cable was unfortunately damaged during works this weekend. Since this time we have been working with the provider to facilitate the repair as quickly as possible. We anticipate the repair will take place this Wednesday.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused during this period and will investigate how the cable was damaged.”