Diversion route is 43-mile 'magical mystery tour'

A 43-mile (69km) diversion, due to overnight closures on a section of a major route between the M1 and M6, has been described as a "magical mystery tour" by the author of a UK roads website.

The proposed route around the closure of part of the A50 in Staffordshire was "an absolute beast of a thing" according to Chris Marshall, from www.roads.org.uk.

"It's [usually] about five miles on the A50 from one end of the closure to the other, and it's going to take you about an hour's drive [during the closure] to get from one end of this to the other, even in the middle of the night."

National Highways thanked drivers for their patience.

"Essential resurfacing work is needed to bring this section of the A50 up to National Highways standards," a spokesperson said.

"We carefully plan and agree diversion routes with local authorities to ensure they are appropriate for all forms of traffic.

"For safety reasons, we urge motorists to use the diversions signposted rather than follow their sat-navs as alternative routes in the area cannot always cope with large vehicles or heavy volumes of traffic."

From Monday night until Friday, a diversion will be in place to re-route people around the eastbound closure from the A518 Derby Road roundabout to the Ashbourne Interchange between 20:00 BST until 05:00.

It will take drivers from Uttoxeter towards Stafford, then through Rugeley, near Lichfield, before heading towards Doveridge.

Works on the westbound route, between Doveridge and Blythe Bridge, have already been taking place and are due to last for two weeks.

Those works have meant a diversion causing traffic issues reported in Tean and Fole as well as other rural villages along the diversion route.

Councillor Stephanie Akerman, who chairs Checkley Parish Council, said works diverting traffic through the village of Tean were already causing a "pinch point".

She complained that drivers ignoring official diversions following the westbound closures would follow sat-navs and that traffic would back up towards the villages of Fole and Checkley.

Marshall said reasons for such a lengthy diversion included the need to ensure it followed roads capable of carrying the same sort of traffic - in terms of width, height and weight - as the closed section of road.

He said diversion routes would usually also need to avoid things like level crossings as well as roads that were too narrow or those where there were existing roadworks.

"You end up with this crazy, magical mystery tour because the quest is to find a route that every single vehicle that might turn up at the closure point would be able to follow from end to end," he said.

He added that politics also came into route planning, because the diversion would include roads maintained by different organisations.

"What you see once they've come up with the route is none of the reasoning, and you just see this crazy itinerary that's been developed via Stafford and Lichfield," he said.

Last year, Burton and Uttoxeter MP Jacob Collier urged the government to back A50 upgrades between Stoke-on-Trent and Derbyshire to help cut congestion and support local employers.

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