A-road

A548 traffic and collisions

The A548 is an A-road of 52.2 miles in England and Wales, from West Cheshire to Conwy. This page covers its traffic at 23 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.

Last updated
Records analysed
23 count points in 2025
Methodology
View methodology
  • Traffic in 2025 175m vehicle miles
  • Average daily traffic 9,186 vehicles a day, both directions
  • Busiest section 16,801 A494 Trunk Road to LA Boundary (Flintshire/Cheshire West and Chester)
  • HGV share 3.7% of vehicle miles
  • Traffic since 2019 −3.0% same count points
  • Collisions, 2021 to 2025 194 23.4 per 100m vehicle miles

How busy is the A548?

On an average day in 2025, 9,186 vehicles passed each point on the A548, counting both directions. The busiest section is A494 Trunk Road to LA Boundary (Flintshire/Cheshire West and Chester) (Flintshire), with 16,801 a day; the quietest listed is A544 to B5382, with 1,416.

Busiest sections, 2025

A494 Trunk Road to LA Boundary (Flintshire/Cheshire West and Chester) carries 1.8 times the road’s average flow.

Sections of the A548 with the highest average daily flow, 2025
Section Vehicles a day
A494 Trunk Road to LA Boundary (Flintshire/Cheshire West and Chester) Flintshire · 3.0 mi · HGVs 3.1% 16,801
Caesar Avenue, Flint to A5119 Flintshire · 0.8 mi · HGVs 4.5% 16,135
A5026 to Aber Rd, Flint Flintshire · 2.5 mi · HGVs 3.7% 15,246
Parkway to A550 Flintshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 10.3% 14,266
A5480 to A494 Trunk Road West Cheshire · 1.2 mi · HGVs 1.5% 13,731
A547 to A548 Bath St (Stryd Y Baddon) Denbighshire · 4.4 mi · HGVs 0.8% 13,123
Parkway, Shotwick to Caesar Avenue, Flint Flintshire · 5.7 mi · HGVs 10.3% 12,852
A5268 to A5480 West Cheshire · 0.9 mi · HGVs 1.7% 12,374
A5026/A548 junction near New Brighton, Flintshire to Walven, Flintshire Flintshire · 0.6 mi · HGVs 4.5% 10,340
A548 merge to A55 Denbighshire, Conwy · 4.3 mi · HGVs 1.1% 10,303

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Route

West Cheshire to Conwy · 52.2 miles

West Cheshire Conwy
Schematic route: each line joins the junctions at the ends of a DfT count point link.

A548 traffic and collisions by section

19 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 2 short link roads and spurs (0.4 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.

Show all 19 sections Tap a column heading to sort
Sections of the A548 in route order, 2025 traffic
#
1A5268 to A5480West Cheshire0.912,3741.7%−5.2%21106.7
2A5480 to A494 Trunk RoadWest Cheshire1.213,7311.5%−5.9%6
3A494 Trunk Road to LA Boundary (Flintshire/Cheshire West and Chester)Flintshire3.016,8013.1%1130.1
4Parkway to A550Flintshire0.614,26610.3%−6.3%4
5Parkway, Shotwick to Caesar Avenue, FlintFlintshire5.712,85210.3%−6.3%2116.3
6Caesar Avenue, Flint to A5119Flintshire0.816,1354.5%+1.9%8
7A5119 to Aber RdFlintshire0.416,1603.7%+4.8%4
8A5026 to Aber Rd, FlintFlintshire2.515,2463.7%+4.8%1014.8
9A5026/A548 junction near New Brighton, Flintshire to Walven, FlintshireFlintshire0.610,3404.5%fewer than 3
10Walven, Flintshire to A547Flintshire, Denbighshire9.810,0422.6%1620.3
11A547 to A548 Bath St (Stryd Y Baddon)Denbighshire4.413,1230.8%+6.6%2122.1
12A548 Bath St (Stryd Y Baddon) to A548 Elwy StDenbighshire0.35,1841.0%−5.4%fewer than 3
13A548 merge to A55Denbighshire, Conwy4.310,3031.1%−11.1%3543.5
14At A548 spurConwy0.210,7611.8%−1.5%fewer than 3
15A55 to A547Conwy0.54,8581.4%−5.6%4
16A547 to Lon DirionConwy0.64,3351.3%−5.5%0
17Lon Dioion, Abergele to A544Conwy4.12,9342.1%−5.7%1152.2
18A544 to B5382Conwy4.71,4164.2%−4.3%9
19B5382 to A470Conwy7.23,5661.9%−6.1%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 A548 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.

A548 traffic by vehicle type

Cars and taxis make up 80.2% of the vehicle miles on the A548. HGVs account for 3.7%, rising to 10.3% on Parkway to A550.

Vehicle mix, 2025

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

HGV share of traffic

HGVs as a share of vehicle miles on the A548, by year
Year HGV share
2000 4.2%
2001 4.2%
2002 4.6%
2003 4.4%
2004 4.1%
2005 4.1%
2006 4.1%
2007 3.9%
2008 3.8%
2009 3.5%
2010 3.5%
2011 4.0%
2012 3.9%
2013 3.9%
2014 3.8%
2015 3.4%
2016 3.3%
2017 3.3%
2018 3.4%
2019 3.5%
2020 4.1%
2021 4.0%
2022 3.8%
2023 3.6%
2024 3.5%
2025 3.7%

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

A548 traffic trend

Traffic on the A548 came to 175 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 3.0% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 5.9% on 2015.

Vehicle miles a year

Like for like, traffic is up 1.2% on 2000.

Vehicle miles on the A548 each year, the whole road as it was that year
Year Vehicle miles
2000 178m
2001 175m
2002 187m
2003 186m
2004 186m
2005 182m
2006 183m
2007 185m
2008 184m
2009 184m
2010 178m
2011 174m
2012 173m
2013 171m
2014 175m
2015 179m
2016 182m
2017 180m
2018 182m
2019 180m
2020 139m
2021 153m
2022 164m
2023 166m
2024 170m
2025 175m

Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated

Average daily flow

Average daily flow along the A548, weighted by link length, by year
Year Vehicles a day
2000 9,328
2001 9,144
2002 9,814
2003 9,723
2004 9,734
2005 9,526
2006 9,583
2007 9,663
2008 9,660
2009 9,634
2010 9,304
2011 9,134
2012 9,061
2013 8,937
2014 9,178
2015 9,361
2016 9,517
2017 9,438
2018 9,458
2019 9,443
2020 7,298
2021 8,024
2022 8,590
2023 8,679
2024 8,925
2025 9,186

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 (76.2% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 3 of the 23 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.

A548 collisions

Police recorded 194 collisions with the A548 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 75 of them fatal or serious, including 7 fatal. That is 23.4 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 0.7 a year for each mile of road.

Reported collisions by year

Down 34.1% from 2021 to 2025.

Police-reported collisions on the A548 by year: fatal or serious, and slight
Year SlightFatal or serious
2021 2516
2022 2918
2023 3413
2024 1814
2025 1413

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.

Collisions per 100 million vehicle miles by section of the A548, 2021 to 2025
Section Per 100m vehicle miles
A5268 to A5480 West Cheshire · 21 collisions 106.7
Lon Dioion, Abergele to A544 Conwy · 11 collisions 52.2
A548 merge to A55 Denbighshire, Conwy · 35 collisions 43.5
A494 Trunk Road to LA Boundary (Flintshire/Cheshire West and Chester) Flintshire · 11 collisions 30.1
A547 to A548 Bath St (Stryd Y Baddon) Denbighshire · 21 collisions 22.1
Walven, Flintshire to A547 Flintshire, Denbighshire · 16 collisions 20.3
Parkway, Shotwick to Caesar Avenue, Flint Flintshire · 21 collisions 16.3
A5026 to Aber Rd, Flint Flintshire · 10 collisions 14.8

Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated

A further 17 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A548 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 A548

In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.

  • West Cheshire
  • Flintshire
  • Denbighshire
  • Conwy

Data sources and methodology

Datasets used on this page
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 23 count points in 2025 15 September 2026
Reported collisions Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2021 to 2025 194 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.