DRIVERS will face a further week of delays after bad weather meant a road closure will be extended.

Ipswich Road south in Colchester had been due to be closed until mid February to allow contractors to complete piling works on site.

The six weeks of road closures started on January 5.

But high winds and bad weather caused by Storm Brendan mean the road will now be closed for another seven days.

It is now earmarked to reopen on February 24.

Highways bosses said they would be working to open the road at the earliest opportunity.

A spokesman said: “As part of the overall scheme we need to undertake works to strengthen the retaining wall between the road and the railway cutting.

“This, in itself, is a significant operation and will require the construction of a continuous new piled retaining wall behind the existing wall below the surface of the Ipswich Road roundabout.

“This is a major operational part of the scheme and we, therefore, ask for the public to be patient while these vital works take place.

“Due to the adverse weather and extremely high winds we encountered, there have been slight delays to the initial piling set up due to safety reasons.

“Over the next weeks we will be exploring every possible avenue to reduce the traffic management and open the road at the earliest opportunity.”

The work is the next phase of the £10million Ipswich Road improvement scheme which has been under way since September 2018.

The project, which will see single roundabouts replacing double roundabouts at the bottom of Ipswich and Harwich roads, is due to be completed at some point in the summer.

As part of the recent road closure, drivers heading into Colchester town centre from the north of Colchester have been stopped from turning right into Cowdray Avenue from Ipswich Road.

Instead, vehicles are being forced down St Andrew’s Avenue and back on themselves, leading to long queues in the area especially during morning and afternoon rush hours.

Work is being carried out between 7am and 8pm, however, due to safety reasons the road closure is needed at all times.