A494 road

A494
The A494 heading south towards Queensferry, Flintshire
Route information
Maintained by Highways England and North & Mid Wales Trunk Road Agency
Length:	61.9 mi (99.6 km)
Major junctions
Northeast end:	Mollington, Cheshire 53°14′38″N 2°55′47″W / 53.2440°N 2.9298°W / 53.2440; -2.9298 (A494 road (northeastern end))
	M56 motorway A540 road A550 road A548 road A55 road A541 road A549 road A525 road A5104 road A5 road A4212 road A470 road
Southwest end:	Dolgellau 52°44′43″N 3°52′34″W / 52.7454°N 3.8761°W / 52.7454; -3.8761 (A494 road (southwestern end))
Location
Primary destinations:	Mold Ruthin Bala
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

The A494 is a trunk road in Wales. The route, which is officially known as the Dolgellau to South of Birkenhead Trunk Road, runs between the terminus of the M56 motorway between Mollington and Capenhurst and the A470 at Dolgellau, Gwynedd. Its northern sections remain among the busiest roads in Wales.

The original routes into North Wales meant using fords when the Dee estuary was at low tide north west of Chester. But when the river was canalised in the 1730s several new coach roads were laid out through Sealand, Shotton and Queensferry. These were built by the Dee Company under the River Dee Act of 1743 to serve the hand-operated ferries which had replaced the fords.

By 1861 the ferry at Shotton was steam operated, with an engine house on the Queensferry side. In 1897 the ferry was replaced by an innovative retractable bridge because of increasing mechanised transport. The Queen Victoria Jubilee Toll Bridge, which was built from iron, stone and wood, could retract its middle sections for the passage of river traffic. However, by the early 1920s, increasing numbers of motor vehicles and the narrowness of the bridge made the area notorious for traffic congestion. These issues prompted its replacement.

In 1926 a rolling bascule bridge, called the New Jubilee Bridge, was opened by the Ministry of Transport for the newly named A494. Its design allowed river traffic to use the wharfs at Saltney. The original bridge was demolished although the stone abutments can still be seen today. The steel bridge remained the sole road crossing at Queensferry until the late 1950s.