A MAIN road in and out of Barnsley has reopened after days of traffic chaos.

Pontefract Road has been closed since Saturday because of a burst water pipe. Yorkshire Water origianlly said it hoped to have the road open by Tuesday afternoon. 

But a spokesman for Barnsley Council said due to the scale of the damage, repairs will take a few days.

Yesterday, the council issued an update on its Facebook page, saying: "Good news - the tarmac is down on Pontefract Road! To avoid any soggy bottoms and to give it a chance to cool down, the road will reopen between 7.30am and 8am tomorrow (Thursday) morning.

"We're really sorry for any delays this has caused over the last few days."

On Tuesday Tom Underwood, from Yorkshire Water, said the burst pipe was caused by high water pressure, and the road needed resurfacing.

He said: "We originally hoped we would be able to re-open Pontefract Road by (Tuesday afternoon) but the repair has been more complicated than originally anticipated due to damage to a gas main caused by the burst, which means that the road is now not expected to fully re-open until Thursday.

"We would like to apologise for this delay and would like to thank motorists for their continued patience whilst we carry out this emergency work."