FOR tired and hassled drivers, it will be some of the best news of the summer.

Road closures and road works introduced nearly two years ago in Southampton will finally come to an end today.

Portland Terrace is to re-open after 22 months and the last bollards on West Quay Road will be removed.

Scheduled to finish in time for the 1999 Boat Show, the work has been completed on time and within its £7.3 million budget.

Some early relief from the worst of the queues was won when six weeks ago, the link road to Mountbatten Way opened. But the rush hour nightmare continued for many as the steamrollers continued laying tarmac and altering junctions around Leisure World.

The road network is now in place for the thousands of shoppers expected to come into the new £270 million West Quay development which opens next autumn, said environment services chief Paul Russell.

He will move the last of the road works signs to declare all three lanes of West Quay Road open this morning.

"These improvements to the city infrastructure will bring long-term benefits by reducing congestion and traffic pollution and securing better access to the West Quay shopping mall, the docks and the water-front," he said.

Half the cash for the road improvements was provided by West Quay developers, Hammerson and other city businesses.

The re-opening of Portland Terrace, closed when work first began on the shopping mall will bring a smile to the faces of shoppers, retailers and business people alike, said Liz Syme, for Southampton and Fareham Chamber of Commerce.

She said: "We hope this will encourage more people to come into the city centre, particularly for the boat show. It should improve the whole flow of traffic from the West and through the city."

But she warned plans were being considered for Portland Terrace to become bus only access when the shopping mall opens.

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