FRUSTRATED residents are fed up with traffic "chaos" being caused by works to install the £30 million Cycle Superhighway between Bradford and Leeds.

The construction work has forced the road layout at the top of Dick Lane, near Thornbury roundabout, to be reduced from two lanes to one.

The result, claim residents, is traffic gridlock - with 15-minute journeys now taking at least 50 minutes at peak times.

City Connect, the group behind the work, insisted the lane reduction was not permanent - as some residents feared - and hoped to have the road fully operational again by the end of this month.

Laura Greenwood, of Tyersal, said her 11-year-old son and other children living in the area were regularly late for school as a result of the changes.

The 29-year-old said her son caught a private bus to Crawshaw Academy in Pudsey, a 15-minute journey that now takes at least 50 minutes because of the new road layout.

"It is chaos, there is no other word for it," she said. "It is causing upset and disruption to hundreds of people who live in Tyersal.

"I am furious because clearly no investigation has been done into it. They have not considered how the traffic is going to affect us.

"Children rely on a private school-bus facility that comes into Tyersal but they are constantly late for school now. There are 23 students on this bus.

"It is taking 50 minutes to do a 15-minute journey."

First Bus in Bradford has also experienced problems. A spokesman for the company said: "It has been an area we have had to manage very carefully for some time. It is an ongoing issue.

"A lot of our services cross that junction in that area. It has been very difficult.

"However, we are managing as best we can, including monitoring vehicles. Where we see delays we are managing things by adding services if necessary, and adding resources in to maintain timetables or adjusting services to help people as best we can."

A Bradford Council spokesman said: "The carriageway is only temporarily reduced to one-lane so work can be done safely on the cycle superhighway and once the project is finished it will be two lanes again.S

"Bradford and Leeds Councils have approved the works and are working with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to deliver the scheme. Traffic signals are also being adjusted to try to reduce delays for motorists until the works are complete."

A spokesman for City Connect said: "We appreciate that the disruption is frustrating but we are working to minimise it by communicating closely with the bus operators, the contractors delivering the scheme and the teams that issue the bus information.

"We consulted extensively on the scheme with residents and business owners with printed materials, events and online, and gave opportunity to comment on the issues.

"The 23km of Cycle Superhighway will be completed in spring 2016 so while we realise it's currently inconvenient, it is short term disruption leading to long-term gain.

"The superhighway will bring a reduction in congestion, improvements in air quality and general health and well-being of users and local residents alike."

On the lane closure, the spokesman added: "It is just for the works. Now schools are back it is causing issues. They are hoping to get the work completed by the end of the month at the earliest to get it back to two lanes."