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With Kent County Council advising residents there will be a five-day closure of Caring Lane in Bearsted starting on October 26, one man has made an impassioned plea: please don't lock us in again.
Robert Sinclair of Forge Lane, Leeds, said memories of the last closure at Penfold Hill for repair to a burst water main were still painfully fresh.
The road was closed from September 25 till October 2. He said: "On that occasion, 'road closed except for access' signs were put out at the junction of the B2163 (Leeds/Langley Road) and the A274 (Sutton Road) along with diversion signs taking traffic down the A274 to Willington Street onto the A20 and back past the B2163 at the Leeds Castle roundabout.
"Then the same notice appeared at the A20/B2163 junction with diversion notices taking the traffic along the A20 towards Maidstone then up Willington Street on to the A274 and back towards Headcorn.
"That's all well and good except the diversion was some 10 miles long."
He said many motorists soon found a shorter route using their SatNavs which took them down Old Mill Road, Forge Lane and Upper Street or up or down Caring Lane, Back Street, Horseshoes Lane and onto the B2163 - a diversion of less than half the distance.
The trouble was that many of those roads are single track with passing places and Mr Sinclair said the result was havoc.
He said: "We were basically locked in for about seven days!"
Apart from the log jams, the increased volume of traffic had resulted in ruined verges, damaged barriers and cracked road surfaces, said Mr Sinclair, who said: "Two years' worth of damage was done in a week."
He had suggested at the time, that KCC impose a temporary one-way system on the cut-through routes, but was told only the police had the power to do that.
He said: "I know the problem was the public not following the official diversion, but KCC needs to get its act together before October 26, so that it doesn't make another avoidable mistake again."
KCC said that during the Caring Lane closure, the alternative route would be via Caring Lane, Back Street, Forge Lane, Old Mill Road, the A20 Ashford Road and vice versa.
