A-road
A488 traffic and collisions
The A488 is an A-road of 49.4 miles in England and Wales, from Shropshire to Powys. This page covers its traffic at 12 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 39m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 2,179 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 6,661 A458 to B4380
- HGV share 2.6% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −3.3% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 64 35.1 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A488?
On an average day in 2025, 2,179 vehicles passed each point on the A488, counting both directions. The busiest section is A458 to B4380 (Shropshire), with 6,661 a day; the quietest listed is A489 to A4113 Bridge St, with 1,193.
Busiest sections, 2025
A458 to B4380 carries 3.1 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A458 to B4380 Shropshire · 0.9 mi · HGVs 0.3% | 6,661 |
| B4380 to Bank Farm Rd Shropshire · 0.7 mi · HGVs 0.8% | 5,938 |
| Bank Farm Rd to A5(T) Shropshire · 1.0 mi · HGVs 1.5% | 5,375 |
| At A489 Shropshire · 0.7 mi · HGVs 6.5% | 4,085 |
| Junction A44/A488 (Penybont) to Junction A488/A4113 (Knighton) Powys · 13.9 mi · HGVs 3.9% | 1,993 |
| A5(T) to A489 Shropshire, Powys · 17.3 mi · HGVs 2.3% | 1,848 |
| A489 to A4113 Bridge St Shropshire, Powys · 14.3 mi · HGVs 3.2% | 1,193 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Shropshire to Powys · 49.4 miles
A488 traffic and collisions by section
9 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 | A528 roundabout to A5191Shropshire | 22,621 | 4 |
| 2 | A5191 to A488Shropshire | 17,473 | fewer than 3 |
| 3 | A458 to B4380Shropshire | 6,661 | 4 |
| 4 | B4380 to Bank Farm RdShropshire | 5,938 | 3 |
| 5 | Bank Farm Rd to A5(T)Shropshire | 5,375 | fewer than 3 |
| 6 | A5(T) to A489Shropshire, Powys | 1,848 | 18 |
| 7 | At A489Shropshire | 4,085 | 0 |
| 8 | A489 to A4113 Bridge StShropshire, Powys | 1,193 | 10 |
| 9 | Junction A44/A488 (Penybont) to Junction A488/A4113 (Knighton)Powys | 1,993 | 17 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A488 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.
A488 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 76.3% of the vehicle miles on the A488. HGVs account for 2.6%, rising to 6.5% on At A489.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 4.2% |
| 2001 | 3.5% |
| 2002 | 4.4% |
| 2003 | 4.5% |
| 2004 | 3.7% |
| 2005 | 4.1% |
| 2006 | 3.9% |
| 2007 | 4.0% |
| 2008 | 4.0% |
| 2009 | 3.9% |
| 2010 | 3.4% |
| 2011 | 3.5% |
| 2012 | 3.7% |
| 2013 | 3.7% |
| 2014 | 3.7% |
| 2015 | 3.8% |
| 2016 | 3.9% |
| 2017 | 3.9% |
| 2018 | 4.0% |
| 2019 | 3.2% |
| 2020 | 3.8% |
| 2021 | 3.7% |
| 2022 | 3.5% |
| 2023 | 3.6% |
| 2024 | 2.7% |
| 2025 | 2.6% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A488 traffic trend
Traffic on the A488 came to 39.3 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 3.3% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 11.3% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is down 10.3% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 34m |
| 2001 | 34m |
| 2002 | 32m |
| 2003 | 34m |
| 2004 | 33m |
| 2005 | 36m |
| 2006 | 36m |
| 2007 | 36m |
| 2008 | 36m |
| 2009 | 36m |
| 2010 | 35m |
| 2011 | 35m |
| 2012 | 34m |
| 2013 | 35m |
| 2014 | 35m |
| 2015 | 36m |
| 2016 | 37m |
| 2017 | 37m |
| 2018 | 37m |
| 2019 | 39m |
| 2020 | 30m |
| 2021 | 33m |
| 2022 | 36m |
| 2023 | 36m |
| 2024 | 39m |
| 2025 | 39m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 1,902 |
| 2001 | 1,881 |
| 2002 | 1,778 |
| 2003 | 1,913 |
| 2004 | 1,852 |
| 2005 | 1,994 |
| 2006 | 2,023 |
| 2007 | 2,006 |
| 2008 | 1,994 |
| 2009 | 2,036 |
| 2010 | 1,986 |
| 2011 | 1,966 |
| 2012 | 1,904 |
| 2013 | 1,936 |
| 2014 | 1,990 |
| 2015 | 2,010 |
| 2016 | 2,060 |
| 2017 | 2,077 |
| 2018 | 2,095 |
| 2019 | 2,144 |
| 2020 | 1,640 |
| 2021 | 1,821 |
| 2022 | 1,966 |
| 2023 | 1,991 |
| 2024 | 2,160 |
| 2025 | 2,179 |
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 (71.5% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 1 of the 12 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A488 collisions
Police recorded 64 collisions with the A488 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 25 of them fatal or serious. That is 35.1 per 100 million vehicle miles, higher than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 0.3 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 50.0% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 | 8 |
| 2022 | 11 | 3 |
| 2023 | 4 | 3 |
| 2024 | 9 | 4 |
| 2025 | 3 | 7 |
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 |
|---|---|
| Junction A44/A488 (Penybont) to Junction A488/A4113 (Knighton) Powys · 17 collisions | 168.1 |
| A489 to A4113 Bridge St Shropshire, Powys · 10 collisions | 35.1 |
| A5(T) to A489 Shropshire, Powys · 18 collisions | 32.2 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 4 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A488 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 A488
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Shropshire
- Powys
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 | 64 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.