Machynlleth: Four-mile trip to take 90 minutes

It is usually a four-mile journey between two nearby towns that takes about 10 minutes.

However, getting from Pennal in Gwynedd to Machynlleth, Powys, is set to take an hour and a half because of a diversion of 46 miles (74km).

This is in place during February for work on a new bridge across the River Dyfi aimed at reducing flooding.

For Gwenan Roberts, from Pennal, the concern is not just getting to work - but to hospital when her baby arrives.

She is seven months pregnant, and said: "The worry is that the baby comes early.

"If he comes early then who knows what's going to happen?

"But also getting the kids to school on the other side of the river in Glantwymyn. I also work in Glantwymyn, so for me to get to work and for them, it's an extra hour and a half every morning, and every evening to come home.

"It won't be just a 10-minute drive any more."

Her fourth child is due in March, when the A493 is due to be reopened, but she is worried if things do not go to plan, she could face a longer journey to the maternity unit in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion.

The Welsh government insisted work was vital to create a "safer and more resilient" route through the area, ensuring the road was no longer affected by flooding.

"The work will take place throughout February and will involve drainage improvement works that will also protect a row of Grade II listed properties on the A493," a spokesperson said.

It said officials would work with contractor Alun Griffiths to keep disruption to a minimum.

While the 46-mile route is the recommended diversion, locals have been told that there is a shorter 29-mile (46km) journey along a B road.

But this is little consolation, and Aled Rees, from Pennal community council, said he was worried about what would happen in an emergency.

"It could be a heart attack, it could be a stroke, it could be a car accident or an accident on the farm, where you need an ambulance to get to Aberystwyth quickly, and it's just not going to happen," he said.

"We accept that this work has got to be done, nobody's arguing about that. It's just the way it's done.

"We'd like it to be modified, and we'd like it to get done as soon as possible, possibly working 24 hours a day."

The MS for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Mabon ap Gwynfor, has raised the concerns of residents in the Senedd.

He said: "We have people living there who go to the GP surgery in Machynlleth, we have students going to school in Machynlleth and people who need to go to the hospital in Aberystwyth, let alone businesses who travel along that road.

"So it will have a very negative impact and I'm really concerned about it." 

The new Dyfi bridge, which will open to traffic in February, has cost £46m and taken more than two years to build.

It will sit above fields which are part of the Dyfi flood plain.

After periods of heavy rain they are often underwater, causing the closure of the old 19th Century Dyfi bridge. 

Even when the new bridge opens, disruption will not quite be at an end - sections of the nearby A493 and A487 will close for a month from 10 February for further work.