A second section of the A5 in Shropshire has started to break up after last week’s heavy snow, Highways officials said today.

Motorists have faced rush-hour chaos this week as emergency work was carried out to repair a stretch of the main road, near the Shotatton Crossroads.

The work, between Shrewsbury and Nescliffe, was completed by 3.30pm yesterday but Annie Harris, of the Highways Agency, said today: “There is another patch further to the west on the A5 that now also needs resurfacing.”

The work was due to be carried out today and the lights removed for this afternoon’s peak at 3.30pm.

“The lights will be reinstalled at 7pm for finishing off work and white lining,” added Mrs Harris.

Sheilagh Chestnutt, of Oswestry, said Maesbury was “horrendous” as traffic, including large, freight vehicles, used the B road through the village as a diversion.

Dean Merrick, of Shrewsbury, who travels on the A5 to work in Oswestry at peak times, added: “The traffic lights have been moved further down now. It was busy again this morning.”

Another stretch of the A5, between the Shotatton Crossroads and the Wolfshead Roundabout, was closed in August 2006, again for resurfacing as the road started breaking up just just four years and a half years after it was resurfaced.

The surface had been expected to last seven or eight years.