MOTORISTS faced new delays at a busy junction -- just a few weeks after nine months of major roadworks were completed.

For most of this year Longcauseway and Bolton Road, on the border of Farnworth and Kearsley, have been reduced to single lane traffic, causing tailbacks, while Bolton Council widened the carriageway and resurfaced the road.

But within weeks of the roadworks being completed, United Utilities contractors had to dig up part of Bolton Road for emergency work on a faulty electric cable.

Liberal Democrat Kearsley Cllr Bill Collison said he thought the second round of roadworks should have been done while the road was first being worked on.

He said: "We've had nine months or so of heavy traffic queuing up in the Longcauseway and Bolton Road area while they've been doing resurfacing work, but then it got dug up again after about three weeks.

"Why couldn't this work have been done when the roadworks where going on? It makes no sense to dig up the road again. The traffic ended up being in the same position as before."

A United Utilities spokesman said they had dug up the road when a cable fault left 25 customers without electricity.

The company did work with local authorities to time repairs more conveniently, but in this instance it had been an emergency.

Originally, the cable had been under the pavement, which would have caused no problems for road users. But it was moved under the road during the council work, so the road had to be dug up again for the emergency repairs.

A Bolton Council spokesman said utilities companies were normally not allowed to carry out work within 12 months of resurfacing work being done, but in this case it had been an emergency.

MOTORISTS faced new delays at a busy junction -- just a few weeks after nine months of major roadworks were completed.

For most of this year Longcauseway and Bolton Road on the Farnworth/Kearsley border have been reduced to single lane traffic, causing tailbacks, while Bolton Council widened the carriageway and resurfaced the road.

But within weeks of the roadworks being completed, United Utilities contractors dug part of the newly-resurfaced Bolton Road up to carry out emergency work on a faulty electric cable.

Liberal Democrat Kearsley Cllr Bill Collison said he thought the second round of roadworks should have been done while the road was first being worked on.

He said: "We've had nine months or so of heavy traffic queuing up in the Longcauseway and Bolton Road area while they've been doing resurfacing work and tidying up the road.

"But then it got dug up again after about three weeks. Why couldn't this work have been done when the roadworks where going on? It makes no sense to dig up the road again. The traffic ended up being in the same position as before."

A United Utilities spokesman said they had dug up the road to carry out emergency repairs when a cable fault left 25 of their customers without a supply.

He added that normally they did work with local authorities but in this instance it had been an emergency.

Ironically, before the council roadworks the cable had been under the pavement but after the work it was beneath the road, underneath a cycle path - which meant part of the road had to be disturbed to carry out repairs.

A Bolton Council spokesman said normally utilities companies were not allowed to carry out work within 12 months of resurfacing. But in this case she it had been too urgent to wait.