Motorists’ fury at diversion forcing them to travel 50 MILES to get around 1,400 yards of roadworks in Dorset – and face a £1,000 fine if they try to use a shortcut
- Road in north Dorset will be closed for five nights to lay broadband cables
- Drivers are being threatened with a £1,000 fine if they use the closed-off road
- Those wishing to travel to Shaftesbury, just three miles north of the village, will have to drive 10 miles south before joining the A350 and then turning around
Motorists have slammed a ‘daft diversion’ sending them on a 50-mile journey to get around just 1,400 yards of roadworks.
The stretch of road in the village of Melbury Abbas, north Dorset will be closed from 8pm until 6am, starting from today until February 12 to allow broadband fibre optic cables to be laid.
Drivers are being threatened with a £1,000 fine if they use the closed-off road, meaning those wishing to travel to Shaftesbury, just three miles north of the village, will have to drive 10 miles south before joining the A350 and then turning around.
The diversionary loop will be around 50 miles in total and residents have said it will cause significant delays to their journeys.
The diversion Motorists have slammed a ‘daft diversion’ that means they must travel 50 miles to get around 1,400 yards of roadworks
The stretch of road in the village of Melbury Abbas, north Dorset will be closed for five nights to allow broadband fibre optic cables to be laid
Drivers are being threatened with a £1,000 fine if they use the closed-off road, meaning those wishing to travel to Shaftesbury, just three miles north of the village, will have to drive 10 miles south before joining the A350 and then turning around
Melbury Abbas has previously been dubbed the ‘Village of the Jammed’ as HGVs regularly get stuck along the narrow roads with an average of 18 jams a week
Vehicles will be banned from using Dinah’s Hollow in between the junction of White Pit Lane and the B308 Higher Blandford Road.
Drivers will instead have to travel along Spread Eagle Hill, onto Boyne’s Lane, through Higher Shaftesbury Road, onto the A350 and finally onto the B3081.
Melbury Abbas has previously been dubbed the ‘Village of the Jammed’ as HGVs regularly get stuck along the narrow roads with an average of 18 jams a week.
Jenny Weston, a local resident, says the new closure would cause ‘traffic chaos’ surrounding the village as motorists try to avoid the road closure.
She said: ‘This will probably cause chaos on the lanes and take longer to get to destination in the process.’
Another resident said: ‘Are locals really going to use this 50 mile diversion? It seems daft to have to drive so far to get to somewhere that is less than a mile away.’
Others have said it would be ‘impossible’ for lorries to navigate the tight bends along ‘Zig Zag Hill’, which is the only other route aside from the 50-mile diversion along the A350.
Alan Perry said: ‘There is no way a lorry with a trailer will be able to navigate round the tight bends on Zig Zag Hill.’
Shirley Ball added: ‘Let’s hope no articulated lorries try the Zig Zag option.’
A local resident said: ‘This will mean a great deal of traffic along Zig Zag hill and the A350. It’s going to have very big implications.’
Diversion signs ready to be put out at the junction of the B3081 and Dinah’s Hollow
One man, who wished not to be named, said his daughter kept sheep on the section of road which will be closed.
He said it will be ‘impossible’ for her to reach them by car in the next five days.
He said: ‘How is she going to get to them?
A spokesman for the local Dorset Council said: ‘Any person who uses or permits the use of a vehicle in contravention of the notice will be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1000. This is based on standard council policy.’
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