A494 River Dee bridge

Why we are doing it

The A494 existing river bridge is in a poor structural condition and we need to look at options to replace it.

Current progress

We have considered:

• maintaining connectivity of the A494 across the River Dee
• improving resilience of the A494 
• maximise opportunities for modal shift 
• providing better facilities for pedestrians and cyclists
• impact of construction
• local environmental 

We have undertaken various surveys including environmental, geotechnical, traffic and topographical surveys.

We held workshops with key stakeholders and we held a public consultation between November 2018 and February 2019.

We have identified a preferred option which includes a new river crossing for westbound traffic and the partial reuse of the existing River Dee Bridge for eastbound traffic.

Following the publication of Welsh Government’s response to the Roads Review including the four future road building tests in February 2023, we are now reviewing the scheme’s objectives and proposals to ensure they meet with current policy aims and ambitions.

Next steps

We will develop options that meet current policy aims and objectives.

We will hold public consultation on these options during 2024 with a view to selecting a preferred option.   

We then intend to  publish draft Orders and an environmental statement during spring/summer 2025.

We will be holding draft Orders exhibitions where the project team will be available to answer any questions you may have.

Public consultations

We held public information events in Queensferry and Deeside in July 2018.

We held a 12 week public consultation between November 2018 and February 2019. The responses have helped us confirm the preferred option for the scheme.