MOTORISTS were facing a 20-30-minute wait on Huntingdon ring road on Monday as Huntingdonshire District Council carries out demolition work.Traffic queues were forming around the ring road because of a lane closure by Pathfinder House.

MOTORISTS were facing a 20-30-minute wait on Huntingdon ring road on Monday as Huntingdonshire District Council carries out demolition work.

Traffic queues were forming around the ring road because of a lane closure by Pathfinder House.

HDC has said the lane closures should end tomorrow (Tuesday).

However, there may be some short-term safety-related closures of St Mary's Street this week as demolition moves to the other end of the remaining 1970s office block.

The council had wanted to have a complete closure of the ring road, with signed diversions, on consecutive Sundays, while contractors Carillion demolished the ends of the building with a risk of debris falling into the roads. But the highway authority, Cambridgeshire County Council, insisted the road remain open with off-peak lane closures, said project director Richard Preston today (Monday).

He acknowledged that the ring road had become gridlocked on Friday afternoon, and work had to be suspended early to clear the traffic.

Over the weekend, contractors had moved to radio-linked stop-go boards. Although there had been tailbacks, gridlock had been avoided, Mr Preston said.

"It was a lot better on Saturday than Friday, though clearly we are concerned about journey times. We should have finished that part of the work [involving lane closures in Castle Moat Road] sometime tomorrow.

"St Mary's Street is a different kettle of fish, because there is less traffic and it's already effectively single lane. We can take a very quick view if we need to stop traffic for safety reasons," he added.

"It might be better when that happens for drivers wanting to use Hartford Road to stay on the ring road.

Were you caught up in the tailbacks or affected by the traffic problems? Send your views to editor@huntspost.co.uk