Motorists face a pointless 40-mile detour, taking 90 minutes to complete around 200m of roadworks

DRIVERS face a 40-mile detour that takes 90 minutes to avoid a 200-meter roadworks.

The detour involves an excruciating loop hike through 13 towns and villages.

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Local residents and businesses have criticized the proposed route as a waste of time and fuel.

One insisted: “There are much easier and shorter routes, so why are they making it so difficult for motorists? That makes no sense.”

A 195m section of the A371 at Rodney Stoke between Wells in Somerset and Cheddar, 13km away, will be closed for five days later this month.

Traffic is instructed to travel 40 miles via Wells, Glastonbury, Street, Ashcott, Knowle, Highbridge and Axbridge.

Drivers can halve travel times on B-roads and lanes.

But official diversions must be suitable for each vehicle, so A-road closures use other A-roads.

The works are for Gigaclear to upgrade internet cable.

It said: “We apologize for any inconvenience.”

A similar detour was set up on the same road in Westbury-sub-Mendip in 2020 to allow Bristol Water to replace a tap.