OH no - here we go again.

Drivers using one of Southampton's busiest roads are facing further misery as emergency repairs to a gas main on the Redbridge Causeway look set to continue into the weekend.

This morning traffic entering the west of the city was brought to a virtual standstill for the second day in a row.

Queues stretched back six miles as far as Lyndhurst on the A35 and there were massive tailbacks on the A326 and Marchwood Bypass.

Problems were even reported around Junction 2 of the M27, as drivers tried in vain to find a way around the congestion.

One motorist told the Daily Echo it had taken more than an hour and a half to cover just half a mile on the eastbound A35, as the gridlock continued well beyond the morning rush hour.

Despite engineers working through the night, gas company bosses have admitted that it could take until Monday next week to repair the main, which sprung a leak over the New Year holiday period.

Southampton traffic chiefs this morning asked Southern Gas Networks to allow the second carriageway to be reopened while the work was carried out, in the hope of easing congestion.

But that appeal was turned down on safety grounds because it would leave cars driving too close to the excavation work.

The problem follows a spate of similar leaks which took place on the trouble prone causeway between October and November 2005.

At one stage, workers trying to repair the ruptured main were pelted with bottles and cans by drivers who had been left gridlocked on the A35.

Huge tailbacks first built up along the A35 during rush hour yesterday as engineers from Southern Gas Networks battled to plug the leak, which is in a medium pressure main running under a footpath next to the inbound side of the dual carriageway.

A spokeswoman for Southern Gas Network told the Daily Echo that the company was hoping to complete the repairs to the main before the expected mass return of people to their jobs next Monday following the extended Christmas and New Year break.

She said: "We are doing everything we can to minimise the disruption and are working as efficiently as possible.

"I would like to think that motorists would appreciate that the workers are there to try to maintain a safe, efficient and reliable gas supply."

She added: "We are working through this period because workplaces are not fully up to speed yet and we are trying to take advantage of this slightly quieter period before we start to see really dense traffic."