Anger over 96-mile diversion for 'unnecessary' road closures

Drivers and residents have shared frustrations over a 96-mile (150km) diversion put in place for an overnight road closure in southern Scotland.

Improvement works on the A75 in Dumfries and Galloway mean a stretch of the road will be closed between 20:00 and 06:00 this week, with more work planned at the end of the month.

Road maintenance firm Amey said the diversion could take up to two-and-a-half hours but it had done all it could to minimise disruption.

People affected have said the closure is "totally unnecessary" and was having a major impact.

The A75 between Gretna and Stranraer is the main route across Dumfries and Galloway going to and from the ferry ports at Cairnryan.

Work began last week at Mossyard and continues its next phase at Auchenlarie. Overnight closures take place from Monday night until Sunday morning, with more work planned between 28 October and 2 November.

It means journeys between Newton Stewart and Castle Douglas - which would normally take about 40 minutes - could take more than four times longer.

Among those affected are campaigners against a new national park in the area.

Denise Brownlee, of Gatehouse of Fleet, said a recent evening meeting in Castle Douglas had suffered an adverse impact.

"A lot of people coming from the west side of Galloway couldn't actually attend because the road closure meant them driving little single track-type roads going home," she explained.

"This shows it's putting people off from doing any travelling and attending meetings, no matter how important they are, or basically doing anything in the evening.

"A net result is the meetings we've had planned for Wigtown, Newton Stewart and elsewhere have all had to be cancelled because there's no way in the dark and rain at this time of the year that I'm going to consider driving on some of this narrow track roads. It doesn’t feel safe."

She said the reality was that even when fully open, the A75 was not fit for purpose due to the volume of traffic and types of vehicles using the route.

Liz Hitschmann, also of Gatehouse of Fleet, campaigns alongside Ms Brownlee and has seen the impact of the closure first hand.

She said: "On the first night that the closure happened, there were no diversion signs in place, so the lorries were queued up all the way from Auchenlarie right the way back to Gatehouse which is some two to three miles.

"And then because the lorries didn’t know where to go they were coming through Gatehouse, which is not really made for lorry traffic, and that in itself caused a lot of problems.

"The fact that they weren’t notified and the signage wasn’t ready, and even now the signage is very small and totally inadequate."

She said she felt the closures were "totally unnecessary" and a convoy system could have been used.

Mike Edwards lives on a minor road near the A75 and he said he had seen an increase in drivers using it as an alternative route "bang-on" when the road closure started.

"The inconvenience to locals is the unusually heavy traffic late into the night, in what is normally a very quiet area when the content of the A75 turns up on your doorstep," he said.

He said there was also an issue of knowing whether you could get to work as the road could be blocked by a large truck.

"There is wear and tear on our roads, which have little or no maintenance at all," he added.

"There has been no signage placed to stop them from using this unusable route for them creating more havoc late into the night."

Kevin Harris of Donaghadee in Northern Ireland is a regular traveller along the route.

"We use the road two or three times a month to get to and from the Belfast ferry at Cairnryan," he said.

"The diversion is a real pain as other roads around there are often very small.

"We try to take local roads around which often end up in us travelling on very unsuitable roads."

He said he was planning a trip towing a trailer which might have to see him go the "long way around" adding significant time and costs.

Pete Barraclough from North Yorkshire said it had affected his recent visit to the Wigtown Book Festival.

"There was no signage on the A75 warning that it would close at 20:00 and no diversion signage when it did," he said.

"Eventually figured out a route via New Galloway but added considerably to the journey."

Amey, which maintains the route on behalf of Transport Scotland, said the work was needed due to the condition of the carriageway.

It added that the dates of the work had been decided in consultation with residents and business and would be suspended during the mid-term break for schools.

The company said there had been "extensive discussions" with ferry operators, the haulage industry and emergency services to mitigate the impact.

It said the diversion route had been agreed with stakeholders and had been used for previous work.

It added that by working off-peak and overnight it had made "every attempt" to reduce disruption but the improvements represented an investment of £700,000 in the road.