Essential work is taking place to fix a "death trap" road in Nottinghamshire. Jason Zadrozny, an Ashfield Independents county councillor in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, had called for Mill Lane to be shut due to the "poor condition" of the route.
The lane goes from Kirkby-in-Ashfield to Annesley and has deteriorated to the point where residents fear it is too dangerous to use, according to the politician. Following complaints from dozens of people, Councillor Zadrozny demanded that the road be closed and fixed as "an absolute priority".
Via East Midlands - which provides highways services for Nottinghamshire - has confirmed that roadworks started on Mill Lane on January 16 and will last until 11.59pm on January 27. The Via East Midlands website states: "Nottinghamshire County Council is carrying out essential works in this area.
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"This is to ensure that we provide a safe and reliable road network to our road users." Cllr Zadrozny asked for the closure of Mill Lane on National Pothole Day, which fell on January 15.
He said: "We have complained about the appalling state of this road for months. It is extremely dangerous to use this treacherous road.
"With temperatures set to drop, this needs to be an absolute priority for the county council. They are responsible for the state of the broken roads and pavements."
He added: "This is the worst example but there are many, many more areas where urgent work is needed. This is damaging vehicles and putting lives in danger. It is absolutely imperative that this road is closed and a team of staff from County Hall undertake immediate work on this death trap road."
Cllr Rachel Madden, district councillor for Annesley and Kirkby Woodhouse, added: "I am pleased that after our intervention, Nottinghamshire County Council is taking remedial works. The reality is that we've been warning the county council that urgent work was needed before the harsh winter hit.
"Nothing short of a full resurfacing job on this dangerous road will suffice. The county council also needs to deal with the excess water on the road.
"The Ashfield Independents will continue to fight to improve road safety and to fix our broken roads and pavements. In 24 years as a councillor, I've never seen them deteriorate so badly across Annesley and Kirkby Woodhouse."
Nottinghamshire Live asked the county council for a comment but had not received a response by the time of publication.
Gary Wood, Head of Highways and Transport at Nottinghamshire County Council, said on Thursday, January 18: “Surface water run-off and flooding from adjacent fields has caused a significant amount of damage to the road surface on Mill Lane, particularly during the recent period of extremely wet weather. Our teams attended site today and have put temporary traffic signals in place to keep road users safe and emergency repairs are being made to the worst of the damage.
"Plans are underway to undertake full-width surfacing in the affected areas as a priority once conditions are suitable for the works to take place and the traffic signals will remain in place until these larger scale repairs are completed. We would like to thank local residents and motorists for their patience whilst we undertake these works on the highway.”
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