Storm Ciara will not affect Peterborough roadworks which have shut Bourges Boulevard

Bourges Boulevard has been closed eastbound between the Queensgate Roundabout and Rivergate Roundabout since the water main bust early on Monday morning.

Anglian Water engineers have been working round the clock to replace a four metre section of the pipe - and the complete repairs to the road itself.

This weekend strong winds are expected to hit the city, with the effects of Storm Ciara being felt across the country.

However, a spokesman for Anglian Water said: “We are continuing to repair the road which was damaged due to a burst water main on Bourges Boulevard in Peterborough on Monday morning. We aim to have the road open again early next week.

“We don’t foresee any issues with the weather forecast for the weekend.”

The road closure has caused delays and diversions from across the city.

Sunny Singh, owner of the Peterborough Cars private hire taxi firm, said the works had caused chaos for his drivers.

He said: “The last few days in the morning have been manic. All the alternative routes have been blocked.

“It has taken us 45 minutes to get from Crabtree in Paston into town.

“We normally do 300 jobs between 8am and 9am, but we are nowhere near that at the moment. We can’t even give customers an accurate time on when we will arrive because of the traffic.

“When Peterborough’s roads work, they are brilliant. But if one part of the network breaks, it is a disaster.”

A spokesman for Stagecoach said: “We have been informed that Anglian Water are anticipating Rivergate (eastbound) will be closed until at least the middle of next week due to damage caused by flood water.

“All city routes and the two rural routes 1’s 3’s 5’s 6’s and the 31’s 33’s that use Rivergate eastbound will be diverted as follows:

Leave Queensgate onto Westgate, proceed along Midgate, turn left on to Northminster then first right onto New Road. At the roundabout take the fourth exit onto St John’s Street and then follow the road onto Vineyard Road to the mini roundabout. Take the second exit onto Bishop’s Road to the main roundabout, then take the second exit back onto the normal route.

“Passengers will be able to use the stops on the diversion route to catch the bus they need until Rivergate reopens.

“Rivergate westbound is unaffected at the moment and so the buses are following a normal route.

“The situation is likely to cause some delays on the network as other road users will also be diverted but we will be monitoring all affected services and keeping them on time to the best of our ability.

“We apologise for the inconvenience and would like to thank our customers in advance for their patience, especially at peak travel times.”