Motorists were using the new £12.3million Burnt Tree traffic junction for the first time today following the completion of a roadworks project lasting almost two years.

The mammoth roadworks scheme, which started in 2009, has seen the notorious roundabout on the border of Dudley and Tipton transformed into a crossroads.

Drivers have been hit by long delays and congestion during the work, while traders said takings had suffered.

But traffic was today running freely through the new junction and drivers welcomed its launch.

Irene Buscell, a grandmother-of-five from Coseley, who used to work for Hewitts on the site of the current Tesco store, said: “The traffic was terrible when it was an island but the lights should help a lot.

“The council has managed to open it up on time but it is pretty shoddy that they have left all the cones out from the work.”

Retired BT worker Mike Stamps, a grandfather-of-one living on Red Lion Close in Tividale, added: “I think the crossroads will be safer than the island ever was.”

But Gemma Moore, of St Mark’s Road, Dudley, who works at the Tesco on Birmingham Road, said: “I don’t think traffic was that bad before. The works were a waste of time.

“Our trade has gone down since this started.”

The road was dug up where the A4123 Birmingham New Road from Wolverhampton to Birmingham dissects the A461, from Tipton to Dudley.

Homeowners were forced to park cars miles away from where they live, and suffer the noise and smell of construction late into the night.

Crossroads with traffic lights have replaced the five- arm roundabout, with access to Tividale Road now via the Birmingham New Road.

It is hoped the work, a joint project between Dudley and Sandwell councils, will reduce congestion along two of the Black Country’s busiest commuter routes.