Great - thank you for the survey! I think mapping it as a separate link route is fine for now.

I'm 99% sure that it's a "future route" rather than a "meant to be removed route" though. Sustrans' direction of travel is very much towards traffic-free paths rather than on-road routes, and this is a (really quite good) traffic-free path whereas the on-road route is pretty mediocre in places - e.g. the A4047 section. Improving NCN 46 seems to have been a theme throughout the Heads of the Valleys road scheme - e.g west of Cefn Coed where there had been a gap in the route for ages.

If you take a look at the Sustrans planned works map (https://www.sustrans.org.uk/national-cycle-network/our-plans-to-improve-the-national-cycle-network/) then the northerly route is shown as "New Route Section - Traffic free" and has advanced to "Stage 3 - Detailed Planning" (coloured in purple).

The garage exit is weird though and nor is it clear how the route will link to the Clydach Valley path - I wonder if there might end up being a signalised crossing across King Street by the Bridgend Inn.