A BURST water main on the A65 in the centre of Ilkley caused traffic chaos this morning.

Four-way traffic lights were in place around Brook Street causing congestion on the A65 Addingham Wharfedale Road to A6034 Silsden Road / B6160 Silsden Road.

Due to the closure of A59 at Kex Gill, the A65 is being used as a diversion, taking all traffic through Ilkley and Otley, adding to the congestion.

Commuters reported taking 40 minutes to travel through Ilkley towards Skipton and traffic is backed up in the other direction as far as the Silsden Road roundabout.

Darren Badrock, Principal Engineer/Traffic Manager with Bradford Council said: "We had a major incident last night on the A65 adjacent to the Brook Street traffic lights where Yorkshire Water discovered a burst that had caused a considerable void underneath the main carriageway.
"Passing width on the A65 was restricted to an absolute minimum of three metres so that excavation and repair could take place, with Yorkshire Water’s contractors on site from 9pm overnight.
"We were fortunate that passing facility was available – had we not been able to keep the road open the Ilkley Cycle Event would have needed to be cancelled so that The Grove could be reopened.
"The repair work will continue today with one of my staff attending to liaise with Yorkshire water in an attempt to have the problem resolved as quickly as possible – we will be asking them to retain a permanent presence on site.
"Obviously, this is not an ideal situation with the repair work in North Yorkshire on the A59 at Kex Gill affecting traffic flows - we can expect major rush-hour delays this morning which we will be monitoring - however aside from asking for constant working there is little we can do to alleviate the situation."

The repairs have been successful and the traffic lights removed.