Drivers were urged to take extra care this week as traffic chaos came to Silsden.

Work began on Monday to strengthen the town's canal bridge.

Rush-hour traffic stretched back along the Aire Valley trunk road in both directions and on Bolton Road towards Addingham.

Long delays are expected on the A6034 through the town while £100,000 improvements lasting 12 weeks are carried out. Temporary traffic lights on the bridge will be monitored to see if diversions need to be brought into operation.

The situation was made worse with heavy-goods vehicles and buses trying to negotiate their way around vehicles parked in Keighley Road and Kirkgate.

Parish councillor Lawrence Walton says drivers should give more thought to parking and traffic may move freely. "I was travelling through town towards the trunk road on Monday," says Cllr Walton. "A taxi stopped in front of me to let someone out. Everyone then missed their turn at the traffic lights."

Another driver, who was at the front of the queue at the traffic lights going into the town from the trunk road, says drivers were ignoring the traffic signals. "The traffic lights on my side had changed from red to green and back to red again," he says. "There was still a constant flow of traffic coming over the bridge from Kirkgate."

One Kirkgate trader told us the only good thing about the chaos was that 'people could cross the road safely'.

Keighley police Inspector Ken Robinson told the parish council that plans have already been made to divert light vehicles around the area and will be brought into action if necessary. The diversions would include traffic from the Aire Valley trunk road turning right into Belton Road and then Hainsworth Road and across the canal swing bridge towards Howden Road.

The cutting under the canal bridge could be opened to take traffic from Bolton Road. It would rej-oin Keighley Road via Belton Road.

Cllr Phil Thornton, chairman of Bradford council's highways committee, says: "We are sorry for any inconvenience caused by this essential work."

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