Residents of a quiet Ipswich lane have been left fuming after it became a rat-run for cars trying to avoid road closures.
Their anger is largely directed at Suffolk County Council because two major roads in the area are both blighted by roadworks at the same time - forcing frustrated drivers to turn to the narrow Humber Doucy Lane.
The lane has always suffered from heavy traffic but became worse on Tuesday after gas company Cadent closed Woodbridge Road East for "Emergency" work that it had planned a month in advance.
The official diversion is along Foxhall Road - but that was already partially blocked by Openreach which has installed temporary traffic lights while it digs up the road near the Tesco store.
That has all prompted drivers who know the area to take their chances along roads not designed for heavy traffic.
Humber Doucy Lane between Playford Road and Rushmere Road was particularly bad on Tuesday evening because the traffic was also joined by football fans heading for Ipswich Wanderers ground.
Local resident Derry Salter said she was terrified as she tried to take her dog for a walk: "I couldn't walk at the side of the road because of the number of vehicles there - but they weren't moving much.
"It's only a small road but there are cars, buses, tankers, lorries, everything trying to get along there and most of the time nothing is moving - just putting fumes into the air."
Local councillor Sandy Martin said he had been aware of problems in the road - and was disappointed the county council hadn't done more to co-ordinate the work.
He said: "Things have generally been more co-ordinated recently, but not this time. Cadent said their work is an emergency but they told us about it a month ago."
Cabinet Member for Ipswich Paul West said: "Woodbridge Road East is currently closed to facilitate a deep excavation following a sink hole beneath the carriageway earlier this year.
"Suffolk County Council is working with Openreach to see if it is possible for their works to be completed ahead of schedule to alleviate traffic on Foxhall Road.
"Conditions have been applied to Openreach where they must manually control their temporary traffic signals to limit disruption. Unfortunately, we are unable to control road users finding local roads to avoid the road closure.
"In addition, I have requested for an ‘Access only’ sign to be installed at the southern end of Humber Doucy Lane at its junction with Playford Road, and a request will be made to Ipswich buses this afternoon, asking them to fiind an alternative route.”
A list of temporary works around the town can be found here.
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