Location can't be set manually in places bar

I can't figure out how to change the current directory via places bar. Every time I type CTRL+L and write the complete path of the destination directory, Marlin thinks I wanna go to a subdirectory of the current path. For example, if the current directory is /root and I wanna go to /usr/local, first I have to click on the Filesystem icon on the left to set my current directory to /. That's very annoying