Blackburn Road near Dunscar reopens after water main causes damage to carriageway

The photos taken by Tim Melia show how water flooding on to Blackburn Road near Dunscar wrecked half of the road, forcing officials to close both sides of the carriagewayat Dunscar bridge on Tuesday afternoon.

The road was reopened on one side at around 3pm when temporary traffic lights were installed to direct motorists.

Commuters reported traffic gridlock as the emergency road closure was put in place — and motorists are warned to expect delays with slow traffic now being reported in the area following the installation of the traffic lights.

A spokesman for United Utilities told The Bolton News: "We had a burst pipe under the road near Dunscar Bridge.

"It was quite a large pipe and has unfortunately done some damage to the road, which we need to fix before the road can re-open.

"Our engineers are on site and we hope to be able to complete the work and re-instate the road in a few days. We’re really sorry that this is such an inconvenience for road users and local people. We’ll do it as quickly and safely as we can, but the pipe is quite deep so there are no short cuts."

Cllr David Greenhalgh, leader of Bolton Council, warned morning commuters about the road closure and the 'considerable damage' causes on his official Facebook page and said that Bolton Council and United Utilities were working to get traffic moving and repair the burst pipe.