Sleepless families fear a nightmare weekend if lorry drivers ignore diversions and cruise past their homes when a huge stretch of the A50 closes this weekend.

At 8pm on Friday, the A50 will close between the Little Chef and Blythe Bridge roundabouts so a new bridge can be built. It will reopen at 5.30am on Monday.

Traffic at the Little Chef roundabout will be diverted to turn right onto the B5030 and through town to Stafford Road.

Vehicles will then follow the A51 and A34 towards Stoke-on-Trent, before joining the A500 and then the A50 to Blythe Bridge.

But families are worried lorry drivers will take a short-cut by turning left onto Ashbourne Road and New Road, past hundreds of families’ homes.

Huge steel beams that will form the spine of a bridge on A50 near Uttoxeter
Huge steel beams that will form the spine of a bridge on A50 near Uttoxeter

An Ashbourne Road resident, who asked not to be named, said: “When the same stretch was recently shut for four nights, lorry drivers were going to Blythe Bridge through Tean by driving up Ashbourne Road from the Little Chef roundabout, then up New Road and the A522.

“I counted 25 HGVs coming up Ashbourne Road in just eight minutes.

“At 3am they were getting ratty with one another and beeping their horns right outside our house.

“My children got absolutely no sleep as it was baking hot, so we couldn’t leave our windows closed.

“I don’t blame them for not using the diversion as it’s a long way round, but if they decide to take the short-cut, it’s going to make the gridlock even worse.

“It’s going to be awful anyway with all the A50 traffic for a whole weekend being diverted through town.

“I understand they’ve got to do it and there’s not much of an alternative in terms of the diversion, but it’s going to be absolute chaos.

“We only have to have something on at Alton Towers and we can’t get off our drive.

"It’ll have a knock-on effect on traffic through Tean as well. Even if they follow the diversion, it’ll be bad for people living in Stafford Road.

“We hope the weather’s mild enough to leave the windows closed and lorry drivers stick to the diversion better.

“Alton Towers will be open and people aren’t going to stop going there just because the A50 is closed.

“I’ll have to work in the mornings and am not looking forward to that if I haven’t been able to get any sleep.”

Mark Winnington, Staffordshire County Council’s economy boss, said: “This is a major piece of engineering which we’re intent on doing as quickly and as safely as possible on behalf of Highways England.

“We’ve done a lot of preparation in advance so we can plan this operation into one weekend’s intense work to minimise the inconvenience.

“As well as a signposted diversion route suitable for HGVs, there’ll be warning signs on the M1, M6 and A38 before and during the weekend.

"We’ve placed warning signs on the A50 for two weeks in advance and, as well as notifying local media, we’re informing radio travel desks for inclusions in bulletins.

“We’re also issuing warnings on social media and have notified the Road Haulage Association, but inevitably there will be some people with local knowledge who opt to choose a different route.”