Motorists are facing further traffic chaos after the opening of a main Walsall town centre road has been delayed for another time.

Hatherton Street South was expected to open up again at the junction of Littleton Street this weekend but is now not due to be ready until next week after work was delayed due to underground cables. It is the latest blow to motorists caused by the multi-million ring road scheme through the heart of the town centre. Work on the project started in August.

It should have been finished last week and then before this weekend.

Traffic coming from the Arboretum junction currently has to travel up to Stafford Street, then along St Paul’s Street and Hatherton Road to get to their homes and workplaces.

Drivers wanting to access Littleton Street West from Hatherton Street South have to go back into the town centre. Walsall Council chiefs have insisted the road should re-open by 4pm Wednesday at the latest.

Councillor Anthony Harris, cabinet member for transport at Walsall Council, said: “Its been an incredibly frustrating time for us on this road building scheme at times.

“We wanted to get Hatherton Street at the junction of Littleton Street open at the weekend but I am afraid we can’t do that now.

“We are disappointed to be told that unforeseen underground problems encountered by South Staffordshire Water who are working on pipes at the junction has had a knock-on effect of putting our schedule back by a couple of days.

“We had the option to patch up the holes they are going to leave behind in order to open at the weekend but then we would have had to come back later and close the road again to finish the job properly which would have caused more disruption. The engineers advise me that would only mess people around further down the line and we want to keep that to a minimum. It is better to take a few days extra.”