Drivers face at least three days of delays and diversion while a damaged water main is repaired.

The pipe burst early on Monday (March 7) morning on South Quay, and the resulting road closures caused traffic to become grid-locked around the town.

Queues were also backed up for two miles along the Acle Straight on the approach to the town during the morning rush hour.

County council officers have been in discussions with Essex and Suffolk Water to work out the necessary traffic control measures.

The disruption is likely to last at least until the weekend.

Here is a round up of the diversions:

• Temporary traffic signals will be put in place to restrict South Quay to one lane only during the works.

• The west side of Hall Quay, in the direction of North Quay and over Haven Bridge, will be closed to traffic for three days while repairs take place.

• Three-way lights control traffic over Haven Bridge.

• Gorleston bound traffic cannot use South Quay and Haven Bridge until further notice. The diversion route is via Breydon Bridge, Vauxhall roundabout and North Quay.

• Haven Bridge will remain open to pedestrians and cyclists in both directions.

Buses:

• First Buses have said that due to the town centre road closures all First Buses between Market Gates and Southtown will be running via the New Bridge. Buses will not be serving the stops at the Town Hall or Matalan.

Chris Speed from First Buses said: 'Please leave extra time as some journeys between JPH and Yarmouth are taking up to two hours. Delays will be affecting the whole network including Caister, Lowestoft and Norwich (X1).

'The drivers are doing their best (most were very late for there tea last night) and we have extra staff and buses in use. If you are planning a cross town journey you may have to change at the Market Gates.'

Other roadworks:

• Due to continuing scheduled roadworks, Haven Bridge will be closed overnight in both directions between 7pm and 6am. The diversion route for both closures is via Breydon Bridge, Vauxhall roundabout and North Quay. Haven Bridge will remain open to pedestrians and cyclists in both directions.

• County council engineers will review later this week whether a planned closure this weekend of Nottingham Way, near South Quay, will go ahead.

• Separate road works will begin on Wednesday, March 9 to carry out a series of carriageway repairs on the A149 Caister Road.

The site will extend from the stadium southwards to the junction with Barnard Crescent. The works will be carried out under restricted working hours of 9am-4pm and will take three days to complete.