A BURST WATER main caused chaos in Dundee yesterday evening, with rush-hour for motorists heading westbound on the A90 caught up in lengthy delays.

Traffic was reduced to one lane heading towards Perth from the Swallow Hotel roundabout to Bullionfield after the burst around 4pm.

The rupture occurred near the garage just past the Swallow roundabout, and exacerbated travel headaches for commuters caused by work on Dock Street in central Dundee.

Traffic was reduced to 20-30mph on the affected stretch throughout the evening, but was at walking pace at the height of rush hour while engineers worked on the ruptured main.

A police spokesman said traffic was moving slowly on the A90 throughout the evening.

It is not known if the restrictions will be lifted by today, which could cause major delays with thousands expected to use the road to get to Hampden for Scotland’s Euro 2008 match with Italy.

Police said there was also congestion in Marketgait at rush hour as a result of roadworks, which were completed yesterday evening, bringing to an end 10 days of traffic chaos at South Marketgait.

The work on Dock Street has closed the eastern bridge on-ramp since November 6 and forced frustrated motorists to divert through a packed City Quay or, as directed, around the inner ring road.

The work, including closure of both westbound lanes of South Marketgait at Customs House for strengthening of the Dock Street rail tunnel and road resurfacing, has caused severe travel headaches for commuters heading west with some reporting rush hour journey times of 50 minutes from Broughty Ferry to Dundee railway station.

But there was bad news for weekend motorists in the city as the council confirmed further roadworks will result in lane closures at the Olympia roundabout for the duration of the weekend.

Yesterday contractors coned off one lane of the roundabout in preparation for resurfacing work to adjust the road level following the rail tunnel strengthening operation.

This restriction will be in place today and tomorrow.

Motorists heading down West Marketgait towards the roundabout will not be able to turn right towards Perth but will be forced to continue eastwards and double back at the next circle adjacent to the road bridge.

The work is scheduled to be completed tomorrow, meaning that Monday commuters should be unaffected.