PARTS of Southampton are set for rush-hour traffic chaos today as workmen dig up one of the main roads out of the city.

Bitterne Road will be closed to eastbound traffic for five days at the Bitterne Manor bend near Northam Bridge.

Transco, the gas pipeline and emergency service, needs the closure to repair a serious gas leak between Hawkeswood Road and Englefield Road.

Traffic is being diverted from Charlotte Place, St Mary's Road, Onslow Road, Bevois Valley Road, Thomas Lewis Way, St Denys Road and Cobden Bridge, Cobden Avenue and Bullar Road.

The emergency closure, which took effect from 6.30pm yesterday, was undertaken by the city council.

Westbound traffic heading for the city centre will be unaffected.

Last night the closure caused little trouble as the rush-hour congestion had largely passed. But tonight there is likely to be long tailbacks as commuters try to use Cobden Bridge.

News of the emergency closure was greeted with dismay.

Peter Baillie, chairman of the Bitterne Park Traders' Association, said: "Traffic congestion is quite horrific as it is. Traffic in Cobden Avenue, Manor Farm Road and around Cobden Bridge is going to be gridlocked. I feel sorry for those who have no option but to travel on these roads."

The closure renewed calls for another bridge over the River Itchen. Mr Baillie said: "That need becomes greater with the new shopping centre and the new Dell. The three bridges, Cobden, Bitterne and Itchen, just can't cope."

He said the annual meeting of the Townhill Park Bitterne Park and Midanbury Community Action Forum on Tuesday had been addressed by Geoff Cornford, city council traffic manager. Mr Baillie said Mr Cornford told them that traffic was already at the "absolute maximum on Bitterne and Cobden Bridges and nothing more could go over them".

Peter Russell, former general secretary of the Driving Instructors' Association, with 40 years' experience in Southampton, said the closure would hit teaching. "You can't learn much just smelling someone else's exhaust."

A spokesman for the AA said the work needed to be completed as soon as possible. "If the work overruns then the company should be fined to encourage them to get the work done on time."

She called for more utilities to invest in technology that cut down the need to dig up roads.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.