Beleaguered motorists using congestion-hit Shrewsbury town centre are facing more traffic misery, it emerged today.

Drivers already having problems because of a road closure caused by the town explosion are being warned that Beeches Lane, close to Wyle Cop and Town Walls, is set to be closed for eight days from Sunday so a gas main can be replaced.

Elsewhere in the town urgent work to replace a gas main will take place at the same time as work to install traffic signals on the Berwick Road and Coton Hill junction. The scheme is due to start on Monday and is expected to take at least three weeks to complete.

It comes as motorists are already facing delays because of other roadworks and closures in the town, including Smithfield Road, part of which is still closed just over six weeks after the town’s huge explosion.

Shropshire Council has vowed the town is still open for business despite the problems. Residents have campaigned for lights at the Berwick Road and Coton Hill junction for five years, warning the area is unsafe and suffers from congestion.

Shropshire councillor Maxwell Winchester said: “The residents are very excited the campaign has succeeded but they will have to be inconvenienced for three to four weeks.” A spokeswoman for National Grid said the Beeches Lane closure follows work to repair a gas leak in nearby Town Walls but said the two schemes were unrelated.

She said: “We are replacing an old metal main with a plastic pipe.”

An alternative route will be available via Wyle Cop, High Street, Mardol, Shoplatch, Bellstone, Barker Street and Bridge Street. Access to Town Walls will be via the junction with Murivance.

The work at the Coton Hill junction is part of a scheme to replace an old cast iron gas main between Berwick Road and Janes Place, which is part of the utility’s programme agreed with regulator Ofgem and the Health and Safety Executive.

Meanwhile, Swan Hill and Cross Hill, which were shut on Sunday, are to remain closed until February 22 to enable the removal of an electric feeder pillar.

By Emma Kasprzak and Russell Roberts