Nottinghamshire residents have shared how their "peaceful" village can turn to "chaos" when the main road is shut. The A617 begins in Newark and passes through the nearby village of Kelham, linking the village to the other side of the River Trent.
However, residents say the "lovely" village is often bombarded with traffic if there are any issues on the A617, as the country roads in the village are full of drivers having to avoid the main road and find alternative ways to cross the River Trent. Despite the delays in travel many residents face, they all say that they still love their village and wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
Cleaner, Jane Allman, 52, said: "It would take a lot for me to leave Kelham as I love it here." Jane explained the village is lovely and that her only complaint is the levels of traffic and congestion.
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She said: "The worse thing is when there is an accident on the main road and we get what us locals call the rat runners and we get them coming up and speeding down this lane (Ollerton Road) and the next lane. I have lost four cats and it's always been when we had the roads closed for accidents or when it floods.
"It's just so much busier and the village now is not what it used to be and I have been here since 1998. The road itself was not designed for this traffic it was designed for horses and carts, especially the bridge, which now has these 40 ton lorries going over it."
Engineer, Shaun Gash, 67, says he also loves living in Kelham despite the traffic. Shaun explained: "It's quiet here, it's not too big and it's not too small. We are a nice little community and we all know each other up and down here and we have a pub."
He added that it's "nice to walk around" Kelham Hall and that once it gets going again it's "going to be good." Speaking of the "awful" traffic, Shaun said: "That is the worse thing for everybody.
"When the bridge closes for work and when Kelham Road floods which it frequently does, everyone had to come down here and the traffic backs up and you can't get out. It can take a good half hour from here to Newark."
Shaun said that he hopes the bypass for the A46 will help with the traffic. He added: "Also if you don't drive the connections to Lincoln or Nottingham from this area are not very good."
Retired Cindy Tacey, 64, said: "Yeah I love living in the village, it's lovely, quiet and peaceful. All of our neighbours are really nice and there are nice places to walk nearby as well.
"When there is a crash or the river bursts its bank they have to shut the road off and then everyone comes this way, but that's not very often." Cindy added: "There's no shop here but Newark is only down the road." But residents have to be cautious of when they want to travel as "it could take five minutes or it could take half an hour," she added.
Kelham resident, Jenny Bosson, 59, said she loves living in the village and the only good thing about the road being closed is that residents can safely walk across the bridge and admire Kelham Hall and the surrounding views. Jenny said: "If there is roadworks or a crash it's hell, and if there is a problem in Newark then there is chaos in Kelham.
"I love our village, it's fantastic, it's the traffic that is our biggest problem."
Speaking of Kelham Hall, Jenny added: "Kelham Hall is lovely, the sad thing is they have locked the pedestrian gate just here. We are local and if they want us to go and support it then they need to open the gates so we can walk through safely, and the bus stop is there as well for their guests.
"We love Kelham Hall and it's beautiful, and we are hoping that it recovers. We also get an exceptional view from our front window when there are fireworks."
Retired Chris Pearce, 66, added: "We love living here, it's just great and we know people and there's people that have been here a long time. We have a great bunch of neighbours.
"However they found that there is around 22,000 vehicles on that road each day." Chris also described the section of road near the bridge as "a blind corner."
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