A-road
A473 traffic and collisions
The A473 is an A-road of 19.5 miles, from Rhondda Cynon Taf to Bridgend. This page covers its traffic at 12 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 146m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 20,530 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 34,417 M4 to B4181
- HGV share 2.4% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −0.8% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 60 8.7 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A473?
On an average day in 2025, 20,530 vehicles passed each point on the A473, counting both directions. The busiest section is M4 to B4181 (Bridgend), with 34,417 a day; the quietest listed is B4622 to A48, with 8,772.
Busiest sections, 2025
M4 to B4181 carries 1.7 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| M4 to B4181 Bridgend · 2.1 mi · HGVs 4.7% | 34,417 |
| A470 to A4119 Rhondda Cynon Taf · 5.7 mi · HGVs 1.7% | 28,319 |
| A4119 to A4222 Rhondda Cynon Taf · 0.7 mi · HGVs 2.5% | 26,714 |
| B4181 to A48 Bridgend · 1.2 mi · HGVs 2.6% | 22,798 |
| A48 to Nolton St Bridgend · 0.8 mi · HGVs 0.8% | 19,351 |
| A4063 to B4622 Bridgend · 0.9 mi · HGVs 0.8% | 13,375 |
| Coedcae Lane roundabout to M4 Rhondda Cynon Taf, Bridgend · 6.1 mi · HGVs 2.7% | 11,443 |
| B4622 to A48 Bridgend · 1.2 mi · HGVs 0.6% | 8,772 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Rhondda Cynon Taf to Bridgend · 19.5 miles
A473 traffic and collisions by section
10 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A470 to A4119Rhondda Cynon Taf | 28,319 | 21 |
| 2 | A4119 to A4222Rhondda Cynon Taf | 26,714 | 0 |
| 3 | A4222 to Coedcae Lane roundaboutRhondda Cynon Taf | 11,667 | fewer than 3 |
| 4 | Coedcae Lane roundabout to M4Rhondda Cynon Taf, Bridgend | 11,443 | 12 |
| 5 | M4 to B4181Bridgend | 34,417 | 4 |
| 6 | B4181 to A48Bridgend | 22,798 | 3 |
| 7 | A48 to Nolton StBridgend | 19,351 | 6 |
| 8 | A473 Park Street to A4063Bridgend | 20,167 | fewer than 3 |
| 9 | A4063 to B4622Bridgend | 13,375 | 7 |
| 10 | B4622 to A48Bridgend | 8,772 | fewer than 3 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A473 as the first road, placed on the nearest section by their recorded position; rates (per 100 million vehicle miles) are shown for sections of half a mile or more with 10 or more.
A473 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 82.8% of the vehicle miles on the A473. HGVs account for 2.4%, rising to 4.7% on M4 to B4181.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 4.1% |
| 2001 | 4.0% |
| 2002 | 4.0% |
| 2003 | 3.8% |
| 2004 | 4.1% |
| 2005 | 4.0% |
| 2006 | 3.9% |
| 2007 | 3.8% |
| 2008 | 3.7% |
| 2009 | 3.1% |
| 2010 | 2.9% |
| 2011 | 2.9% |
| 2012 | 2.5% |
| 2013 | 2.5% |
| 2014 | 2.7% |
| 2015 | 2.6% |
| 2016 | 2.6% |
| 2017 | 2.8% |
| 2018 | 3.1% |
| 2019 | 3.1% |
| 2020 | 3.7% |
| 2021 | 3.4% |
| 2022 | 2.7% |
| 2023 | 2.5% |
| 2024 | 2.4% |
| 2025 | 2.4% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A473 traffic trend
Traffic on the A473 came to 146 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 0.8% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 1.3% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 2.8% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 109m |
| 2001 | 109m |
| 2002 | 113m |
| 2003 | 115m |
| 2004 | 117m |
| 2005 | 114m |
| 2006 | 115m |
| 2007 | 115m |
| 2008 | 112m |
| 2009 | 111m |
| 2010 | 111m |
| 2011 | 113m |
| 2012 | 120m |
| 2013 | 120m |
| 2014 | 123m |
| 2015 | 127m |
| 2016 | 130m |
| 2017 | 131m |
| 2018 | 147m |
| 2019 | 148m |
| 2020 | 112m |
| 2021 | 123m |
| 2022 | 138m |
| 2023 | 139m |
| 2024 | 141m |
| 2025 | 146m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 15,256 |
| 2001 | 15,223 |
| 2002 | 15,790 |
| 2003 | 16,115 |
| 2004 | 16,388 |
| 2005 | 15,866 |
| 2006 | 16,117 |
| 2007 | 16,031 |
| 2008 | 15,699 |
| 2009 | 15,564 |
| 2010 | 15,541 |
| 2011 | 17,156 |
| 2012 | 18,176 |
| 2013 | 18,171 |
| 2014 | 18,578 |
| 2015 | 19,198 |
| 2016 | 19,617 |
| 2017 | 19,772 |
| 2018 | 21,222 |
| 2019 | 21,291 |
| 2020 | 16,092 |
| 2021 | 17,680 |
| 2022 | 19,897 |
| 2023 | 20,103 |
| 2024 | 20,361 |
| 2025 | 20,530 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
The chart counts the whole road as it was each year, so new or renumbered stretches move it. The percentage changes compare only count points present in both years (78.5% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 3 of the 12 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A473 collisions
Police recorded 60 collisions with the A473 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 17 of them fatal or serious. That is 8.7 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 0.6 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 50.0% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Collisions |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 |
| 2022 | 20 |
| 2023 | 6 |
| 2024 | 10 |
| 2025 | 8 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
Sections with the highest collision rates
Per 100 million vehicle miles, 2021 to 2025. Sections of half a mile or more with 10 or more collisions.
| Section | Per 100m vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| Coedcae Lane roundabout to M4 Rhondda Cynon Taf, Bridgend · 12 collisions | 20.2 |
| A470 to A4119 Rhondda Cynon Taf · 21 collisions | 7.6 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 19 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A473 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A473
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Rhondda Cynon Taf
- Bridgend
Data sources and methodology
| Figures | Source | Period | Records | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traffic counts and vehicle mix | Road traffic statistics (AADF by count point) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2000 to 2025 | 12 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 60 reported collisions | 15 September 2026 |
- Annual average daily flow (AADF) is the average number of vehicles passing a point on a typical day of the year, both directions combined.
- Vehicle miles are AADF multiplied by link length and 365, summed over every count point link on the road.
- Sections join count point links between junctions, using the link lines in DfT’s major road database.
- STATS19 covers personal injury collisions reported to the police. Damage-only collisions are not included, and not every injury collision is reported.
- Serious and slight figures are DfT’s adjusted estimates, which allow for police forces moving to injury-based reporting.
- Counts of one or two collisions below Great Britain level are shown as “fewer than 3”.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.