DRIVERS hoping for respite from traffic congestion on Huntingdon s ring road this week had a rude shock on Monday morning. Work to create a £1.4million contra-flow bus lane on Walden Road was due to be completed last week, bringing an end to off-peak lane

DRIVERS hoping for respite from traffic congestion on Huntingdon's ring road this week had a rude shock on Monday morning.

Work to create a £1.4million contra-flow bus lane on Walden Road was due to be completed last week, bringing an end to off-peak lane restrictions.

Not only is the work not completely finished but a lane was closed in Monday's morning peak after an overnight power spike blacked out the old traffic signals at the junction with George Street.

Bus lane project manager Mike Eatock told The Hunts Post: "The chaos would have been even worse if we hadn't been on site.

"Luckily we had stop/go boards available, but we had to close one lane for safety's sake to manage traffic at the junction."

By 10.30am both lanes were back in use after temporary traffic lights had been delivered.

The new traffic signals have still not be commissioned, and skid-resistant surfaces cannot be laid until DE Clegg, the contractor working on the final stages of the new court building, has done a permanent reinstatement of the adjacent road, Mr Eatock said.

The other outstanding task will be to remove the temporary pedestrian crossing outside the County Court in George Street.