COMMUTERS wanting to travel from Ledbury to Hereford in the school holiday are set to be hit with disruption due to a major month-long road closure. 

Work is set to be conducted on the A438 between Hagley and Dormington at Five Bridges, Bartestree. 

Because of this, there will be a full road closure beginning on Monday, July 22 and will re-open on Tuesday, August 20. 

Ledbury residents have labelled the work 'outrageous' while others expressed fears their roads will become 'rat runs.' 

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The road will be closed for 24 hours each day, although people will still be able to access the road by foot at all times. 

Letters have been sent out to residents by Herefordshire Council and infrastructure group Balfour Beatty letting them know of the works and the closure.

Contractors will be excavating the road and strengthening the bridge in a saddling scheme. 

People took to social media site Voice of Ledbury to voice their views. 

One said: “It’s outrageous that it takes this long, in other countries things like this only take a matter of days.”

Others expressed fears their roads will become a lot busier over the school holidays, with some saying they will become ‘rat runs.’

A diversion route via the A4171, A4103, A465 and A438 Folly Lane and will be fully signed to ensure drivers will know which way to go. 

The letter sent out to residents has assured them there will be marshalls on site during the works to assist with any queries regarding access. 

The letter read: "We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you. 

"At Balfour Beatty we work in partnership with Herefordshire Council to minimise the impact of our work and try to keep all disruption to a minimum - we appreciate your patience."

Bruce Evans, the engineering manager at Herefordshire Council, added: "We have got quite a good diversion route planned so although the delay won't be completely eradicated we have tried to minimise the impact. 

"We have tried to conduct this work during the school holidays, obviously people will still be travelling between Ledbury and Hereford but overall the impact will be minimised through this decision."