DRIVERS face several days of traffic gridlock because of an electrical fault at a major road junction.

The crossroad linking Wimpole Road, Brook Street, Magdalen Street and Barrack Street was reduced to one lane in each direction on Thursday to fix a power cut.

UK Power Networks estimates the problem - believed to be a high voltage fault - will be rectified by Wednesday.

Repairs – UK Power Networks are fixing what has been described as 'a high voltage fault'Repairs – UK Power Networks are fixing what has been described as 'a high voltage fault' (Image: Daniel Rees, Newsquest)

Contractors have dug up a stretch of pavement running from Brook Street to Barrack Street, meaning a temporary footway has been put in place and a pedestrian crossing has been removed until the repairs are finished.

But the roadworks are bad news for motorists as the junction is one of the busiest in Colchester, with Brook Street a well-known pollution hotspot.

Essex Highways' live traffic map has been showing very heavy traffic in all directions, even outside peak travel times.

At 11am on Friday, traffic travelling on Brook Street heading towards Wimpole Road stretched as far back as East Street – a level of congestion normally experienced during the morning rush hour.

Major – the works are expected to last until WednesdayMajor – the works are expected to last until Wednesday (Image: Daniel Rees, Newsquest)

One motorist told the Gazette on Friday delays were “terrible”.

He said: “It was really, really bad – I was in a queue for ages coming up Brook Street, which I think is the worst of the four roads.”

Military Road, an alternative route to avoid the gridlock, is currently subject to one-way traffic although Cadent Gas aims to finish its engineering works by this evening.

In a statement, UK Power Networks said the work at the Wimpole Road junction is to repair a faulty underground cable which caused a power cut on Wednesday.

A spokesman said: “Our engineers are working as quickly as is safely possible to repair an underground cable on Barrack Street in Colchester, where we have installed temporary lights to manage traffic flows in the area.

Queue – traffic builds up in the morning rush hourQueue – traffic builds up in the morning rush hour (Image: Daniel Rees, Newsquest)

“We restored power to 1,063 customers by 2:28am yesterday (August 1) following a power cut at 11.48pm on July 31.”

The junction has been the site of two incidents in the past three months, with a serious crash in May damaging the traffic lights and leading to two people being taken to hospital by ambulance.

That crash followed a separate collision in March when two vehicles were involved in an accident, though nobody was seriously injured.