00:00 Hello, I'm sitting here on the edge of the A448 in Kidderminster, about to take on the
00:05 road between Kidderminster and Bromsgrove to show the number of diversions and how
00:10 far I'll actually have to go out to find my way on the way to Bromsgrove. The
00:13 reason for this is because starting this week there's a bunch of roadworks taking
00:18 place between Kidderminster via West Hagley, Linear Ash and the A38 due to a
00:25 bunch of works to replace a water pipe. There's 546 yards of pipeline which
00:31 involves the complete closure of the Kidderminster Road on a now stretched
00:33 road at Chattersea Corbett. It means that anyone driving between Kidderminster and
00:37 Bromsgrove on the A448 will apparently have to face around 22 miles worth of
00:41 diversion. This video is going to show you where these diversions go to, how
00:45 long it takes and basically give you all the details of what to expect on the way.
00:50 So come with me and we'll speak at the end.
00:55 Okay here we are heading along the A451, the Kidderminster roundabout.
01:01 Heading with Hoo Road on the right, which should mean that the turn towards
01:05 Bromsgrove should be coming up fairly soon on the roundabout. So we'll have to
01:10 have a look at that, see where we're going from there and then direct
01:14 ourselves in the direction of Bromsgrove. You'll see there, right turn towards
01:20 Bromsgrove, A448. Obviously head towards the Severn Valley Railway, the Kidderminster
01:26 Railway station and Kidderminster Harriers as it is. Let's just get ourselves
01:30 onto the roundabout first of all, get ourselves round and have a look and see
01:34 what the arrangements are for following the road towards
01:39 Bromsgrove.
01:44 As you turn around you'll see no access via A448 for the diversion.
02:01 So let's follow our way up the A448 as it stands, head towards the turn with the
02:10 A449 and let's see where it directs us to.
02:15 Let's get up to where the lights are
02:20 and again you'll see that sign that says road ahead closed in three miles no
02:26 through roads. Let's follow it along to where the closure is and see where it
02:32 directs us from.
02:37 Here's the roundabout that says straight on towards Bromsgrove again says road
02:43 closed in 2.5 miles. Let's follow straight through, there's no access via the
02:47 A448. Let's get down this road, follow it down and see where it diverts us
02:56 from here. Obviously we're heading out of Kidderminster, we're heading onto a
03:00 slightly quicker road so you can see the speed limit kicks up a bit more to 50
03:04 miles an hour so let's follow this road as far down as we can go before it then
03:08 directs us off into different places.
03:12 Although they're saying the road is closed there's still traffic going down
03:18 here so obviously there's people working out where they go from here. We're going
03:21 to head into the village of Stone which is next to Kidderminster.
03:29 Follow the road around and see what diversion signs if any come up.
03:36 About a mile and a half now from where the closure is. Again the signs are very
03:46 clear that do say the road is closed. Just waiting to see what diversions
03:51 actually come in place here to see where we can go, what we can do and where it takes us to.
03:55 Roundabouts take a left towards Starbridge, a right towards Worcester
04:04 or straight on towards Bromsgrove. Let's get to this roundabout and see what
04:08 directions or diversions actually exist at this roundabout because we're not far
04:12 away from where it happens.
04:16 Diversity traffic straight on.
04:20 Up here. Let's see where it goes because it says no through roads. Let's see whether it
04:27 directs me back on myself or does anything to help me decide where to go
04:33 from here. The road up here is closed. Here we go.
04:37 Coming up to signs now that say the road is going to be closed.
04:42 You can see diversity traffic up here. Road closed in 0.5 miles, no through roads.
04:49 So here you go. This is the bit where the road is closed.
05:00 Let's see if it can show us where the diversion is.
05:07 So you can see here this area is obviously closed off on the 448. This whole area is closed.
05:30 So now what we need to do is go back on ourselves and work out whether the
05:35 diversion actually goes to. So see there closed off. Let's turn around. Let's have
05:41 a look and see in what direction we're supposed to be going and then head
05:45 towards Bromsgrove because obviously that road is closed off.
05:58 To the left here. Start following this country lane. This is Kursley Lane heading through the
06:05 448. We're off the 448 now. We're on to a country lane in the
06:11 absolute middle of nowhere. Hits somewhere in the Worcestershire countryside.
06:27 Right, gets the end of this road. We're now going to hit the A442 which should
06:34 take us towards Droitwich to the left. So let's follow the Droitwich road.
06:39 Start working our way further through the countryside on the way into the area.
06:51 Take a left onto Clasica Lane. It says Droitwich seven miles, sorry Bromsgrove seven miles this way.
07:09 We've just gone through the Droitwich area. Let's follow this windy road now
07:14 all the way over. This is Chattersea Corbett. So we are taking a fair whack out.
07:19 You're actually heading onto the 442 towards Droitwich which is, as I recall,
07:24 quite a long way away from where Bromsgrove actually is. Let's follow this
07:30 road up now and let's head on the way towards, hopefully, Bromsgrove.
07:35 Right now we are in deepest darkest Worcestershire heading through country
07:46 lanes but the sign at the turn said Bromsgrove at about seven miles so let's
07:53 follow that route and see what we can do to get there.
07:56 I'm trying to imagine this on a commuter sign. People are commuting from Kidderminster to
08:00 Bromsgrove. Would be an interesting experience let's be honest.
08:05 And at last the first diversion that says this way.
08:15 That road up there is closed. That's towards Patsel Green and Cooksey Green
08:19 so let's follow down here instead.
08:24 We're now approaching the end of this road. Let's see which direction we're
08:36 going to be going into at this point. There should be signposts to say which way
08:40 we're supposed to go. There you go, Bromsgrove to the right and the first prop sign
08:45 that says diversion. I think we've now crossed the worst of it. The closed lane
08:51 is down there so let's get back onto this road and we're back onto
08:55 the 448. So here we go. That is quite a lengthy diversion I would say out of
09:01 Kidderminster towards Bromsgrove.
09:05 But now I think we've passed any of the closed road sections. This is onto the 448 so let's enjoy the ride into the town of Bromsgrove.
09:22 And you can see the signs that definitely say diverted traffic taking you
09:30 towards Bromsgrove. The other side that we're taking towards Kidderminster.
09:36 My sort of main synopsis of this is that, or my main analysis of this, is that
09:43 it's poorly signposted in a lot of ways in that area between Kidderminster and
09:49 Bromsgrove. It's only because I saw a sign that said Bromsgrove to go through country lanes
09:52 I knew to go that way. But someone who doesn't know the area at all may not know
09:57 where they're going.
09:59 [TRAFFIC NOISES]
10:08 And finally, welcome to Bromsgrove. We've reached our journey's end.
10:15 Okay that's the journey done from Kidderminster to Bromsgrove. It took me about
10:21 half an hour to do the journey in total and I'm gonna be honest with you I think
10:25 the actual diversions once you are sort of on the 448 are kind of okay but you're
10:31 not really directed very well heading between the two. It's only if you actually
10:35 know where the certain turns are. It's only because I saw the sign that said Bromsgrove
10:39 heading down the A442 through Droitwich so I actually worked out you had to turn
10:43 that way and then directed back towards the A448. It's not in my opinion very well
10:47 signposted but that's kind of the route that you can take if you want to go
10:51 between Kidderminster and Bromsgrove over the next 12 weeks. Maybe you'll
10:55 work out another route yourself. Maybe you'll take yourself down towards
10:58 Worcester and up the M5 if you want to do that but that's just the route that
11:02 I've taken. It takes you down a few country lanes but gets you between the A448
11:07 the A442 and some of the other country roads in between. So that's just me, see what you do.
11:12 Let's see what you do.
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