The A472 is a cross valley link road in South Wales

South Wales

South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...

 that runs west to east across the old South Wales coalfield

South Wales Coalfield

The South Wales Coalfield is a large region of south Wales that is rich with coal deposits, especially the South Wales Valleys.-The coalfield area:...

 from Treharris

Treharris

Treharris is a small town and community in the Taff Bargoed Valley in the south of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. It is located around 1 km west of Trelewis, from which it is separated by the Taff Bargoed river, and 1.5 km from Nelson in Caerphilly county borough and...

 through Nelson

Nelson, Wales

Nelson is a village in the county borough of Caerphilly, South Wales, United Kingdom. Situated ten miles north of Cardiff at the lower end of the Taff Bargoed Valley, it lies adjacent to Treharris, Trelewis and Quakers Yard.-History:...

, Ystrad Mynach

Ystrad Mynach

Ystrad Mynach is a town in the County Borough of Caerphilly, previously within the ancient traditional county of Glamorgan, Wales, and is 5 miles north of Caerphilly town. It has a population of around 13,500 and stands in the Rhymney Valley . Before the Industrial Revolution and the coming of coal...

, Maesycwmmer

Maesycwmmer

Maesycwmmer is a village and community in the centre of Caerphilly County Borough in Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire.- Origin of the name :...

, Pontllanfraith

Pontllanfraith

Pontllanfraith is a large village located in the Sirhowy Valley in Caerphilly county borough, south Wales, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It is situated adjacent to the town of Blackwood, with the Sirhowy River passing through both locations...

, Newbridge, Crumlin, Hafodyrynys

Hafodyrynys

Hafodyrynys is a village on the A472 road between Pontypool and Crumlin in Caerphilly county borough, south-east Wales.The village is served by an inn, a takeaway, a florist and fuel filling station. As of 2008 a new housing estate has been completed on the western periphery of the village.The...

, Pontypool

Pontypool

Pontypool is a town of approximately 36,000 people in the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales....

 and thence into the Usk valley

River Usk

The River Usk rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain of mid-Wales, in the easternmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Initially it flows north into Usk Reservoir, then east by Sennybridge to Brecon before turning southeast to flow by Talybont-on-Usk, Crickhowell and...

, through Little Mill and Usk

Usk

Usk is a small town in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated 10 miles northeast of Newport.The River Usk flows through the town and is spanned by an ancient, arched stone bridge at the western entrance to the town. A castle above the town overlooks the ancient Anglo-Welsh border crossing - the river can...

 to a junction with the A449.

It effectively covers a cross section of south east Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 from the post-industrial valleys to rural Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a much larger area. The largest town is Abergavenny. There are many castles in Monmouthshire .-Historic county:...

, passing through small village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

s, larger town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

s, areas of relative prosperity and areas benefitting from redevelopment and it is a road that plays a part in that rejuvenation.

The road has been largely created from new and improved sections developed since 1980.

Between 1992 and 1994 a major by-pass was built to ease the bottleneck of traffic around Pontllanfraith. This dual carriageway runs from Maesycwmmer in the West through to Newbridge in the East and has links to Blackwood via The Sirhowy Enterprise Way and Newport.

Between Crumlin and Pontypool the road has been laid largely upon the trackbed of the disused Taff Vale Extension railway line.

The A472 is notorious for the Maesycwmmer crawl - a 4-mile section of the road which suffers heavy congestion during rush hour.