Trunk A-road
A494 traffic and collisions
The A494 is a trunk A-road of 61.4 miles in England and Wales, from West Cheshire to Gwynedd. This page covers its traffic at 18 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 275m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 12,271 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 75,590 A548 to A550
- HGV share 5.8% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 +2.8% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 112 9.1 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A494?
On an average day in 2025, 12,271 vehicles passed each point on the A494, counting both directions. The busiest section is A548 to A550 (Flintshire), with 75,590 a day; the quietest listed is B4403 to A470, with 2,913.
Busiest sections, 2025
A548 to A550 carries 6.2 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A548 to A550 Flintshire · 1.6 mi · HGVs 5.3% | 75,590 |
| A550 to B5125 Flintshire · 1.4 mi · HGVs 5.1% | 73,401 |
| B5125 to A55 Flintshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 5.1% | 66,795 |
| At A548 Flintshire · 0.9 mi · HGVs 6.1% | 64,710 |
| A550(T) to A540 West Cheshire · 2.1 mi · HGVs 8.1% | 53,327 |
| A540 Parkgate Road to M56/A494 junction West Cheshire · 1.1 mi · HGVs 10.0% | 44,380 |
| A55 to A5119 Flintshire · 2.2 mi · HGVs 5.5% | 17,684 |
| A541 / A549 to A5119 Flintshire · 1.9 mi · HGVs 5.7% | 9,649 |
| A5119 to A541 / A549 Flintshire · 1.4 mi · HGVs 5.6% | 9,330 |
| A5119 to Roundabout A494(T)/A525 Flintshire · 1.6 mi · HGVs 4.1% | 6,259 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
West Cheshire to Gwynedd · 61.4 miles
A494 traffic and collisions by section
17 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length.
Show all 17 sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A540 Parkgate Road to M56/A494 junctionWest Cheshire | 44,380 | fewer than 3 |
| 2 | A550(T) to A540West Cheshire | 53,327 | 8 |
| 3 | At A548Flintshire | 64,710 | fewer than 3 |
| 4 | A548 to A550Flintshire | 75,590 | 3 |
| 5 | A550 to B5125Flintshire | 73,401 | 4 |
| 6 | B5125 to A55Flintshire | 66,795 | fewer than 3 |
| 7 | A55 to A5119Flintshire | 17,684 | 6 |
| 8 | A5119 to A541 / A549Flintshire | 9,330 | 3 |
| 9 | A541 / A549 to A5119Flintshire | 9,649 | 9 |
| 10 | A5119 to Roundabout A494(T)/A525Flintshire | 6,259 | 3 |
| 11 | Roundabout A494(T)/A525 to A494 Town CentreDenbighshire | 6,259 | 9 |
| 12 | A494 Town Centre to A525NDenbighshire | 5,196 | fewer than 3 |
| 13 | A525N to A5104Denbighshire | 3,218 | 9 |
| 14 | A5104 to A5Denbighshire | 5,048 | 0 |
| 15 | A5 to A4212Denbighshire, Gwynedd | 4,731 | 21 |
| 16 | A4212 to B4403Gwynedd | 4,035 | 9 |
| 17 | B4403 to A470Gwynedd | 2,913 | 13 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A494 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.
A494 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 76.2% of the vehicle miles on the A494. HGVs account for 5.8%, rising to 10.0% on A540 Parkgate Road to M56/A494 junction.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 6.3% |
| 2001 | 6.1% |
| 2002 | 6.3% |
| 2003 | 6.2% |
| 2004 | 6.3% |
| 2005 | 6.5% |
| 2006 | 6.4% |
| 2007 | 5.7% |
| 2008 | 5.7% |
| 2009 | 5.4% |
| 2010 | 5.7% |
| 2011 | 5.8% |
| 2012 | 5.5% |
| 2013 | 5.1% |
| 2014 | 5.5% |
| 2015 | 5.1% |
| 2016 | 5.1% |
| 2017 | 4.9% |
| 2018 | 4.7% |
| 2019 | 5.0% |
| 2020 | 6.3% |
| 2021 | 5.8% |
| 2022 | 6.3% |
| 2023 | 5.9% |
| 2024 | 5.7% |
| 2025 | 5.8% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A494 traffic trend
Traffic on the A494 came to 275 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 2.8% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 3.5% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 28.5% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 144m |
| 2001 | 147m |
| 2002 | 162m |
| 2003 | 179m |
| 2004 | 177m |
| 2005 | 176m |
| 2006 | 179m |
| 2007 | 181m |
| 2008 | 179m |
| 2009 | 186m |
| 2010 | 190m |
| 2011 | 191m |
| 2012 | 189m |
| 2013 | 185m |
| 2014 | 189m |
| 2015 | 197m |
| 2016 | 205m |
| 2017 | 208m |
| 2018 | 210m |
| 2019 | 213m |
| 2020 | 148m |
| 2021 | 177m |
| 2022 | 250m |
| 2023 | 259m |
| 2024 | 265m |
| 2025 | 275m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 6,897 |
| 2001 | 7,061 |
| 2002 | 7,673 |
| 2003 | 8,470 |
| 2004 | 8,365 |
| 2005 | 8,326 |
| 2006 | 8,445 |
| 2007 | 8,579 |
| 2008 | 8,480 |
| 2009 | 8,795 |
| 2010 | 8,981 |
| 2011 | 9,033 |
| 2012 | 8,928 |
| 2013 | 8,738 |
| 2014 | 8,932 |
| 2015 | 9,331 |
| 2016 | 9,687 |
| 2017 | 9,857 |
| 2018 | 9,936 |
| 2019 | 9,986 |
| 2020 | 6,943 |
| 2021 | 8,302 |
| 2022 | 11,157 |
| 2023 | 11,539 |
| 2024 | 11,835 |
| 2025 | 12,271 |
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 (82.1% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 4 of the 18 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A494 collisions
Police recorded 112 collisions with the A494 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 57 of them fatal or serious, including 9 fatal. That is 9.1 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 0.4 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 42.9% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 19 | 16 |
| 2022 | 7 | 11 |
| 2023 | 13 | 11 |
| 2024 | 6 | 9 |
| 2025 | 10 | 10 |
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 |
|---|---|
| A5 to A4212 Denbighshire, Gwynedd · 21 collisions | 28.0 |
| B4403 to A470 Gwynedd · 13 collisions | 20.8 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 11 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A494 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 A494
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- West Cheshire
- Flintshire
- Denbighshire
- Gwynedd
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 | 18 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 112 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.