FROM cars jammed bumper to bumper to a straight breeze through - what a difference 24 hours makes!

Roadworks down Worcester's Sansome Walk finally came to a conclusion today, signalling the end of eight weeks of chaos.

Severn Trent packed up at lunchtime after finally finishing a £1 million project to lay new water pipes under the road.

Nearby business owners today admitted they were startled to see cars driving straight through after weeks of the road being shut.

As your Worcester News revealed in September, as soon as the road was blocked off many motorists caused chaos by initially ignoring the signs.

Chris Boyd, who runs Boyds Accountants at 20 Sansome Walk, said: "It didn't affect people who work along here because the road has been nice and quiet, but it has caused traffic to really clog up all the way back.

"It's nice to see it done now."

Severn Trent took the step of thanking people for their patience over it yesterday, saying it realised the closure had caused frustration.

The firm was working with the National Grid on it, and admitted at the end of October that its bid to finish two weeks early had been scuppered by the complexity of the project.

In recent weeks rush hour delays have spiralled back towards the Tything because drivers had to divert.

Jane Taylor, from the National Grid, said: "We'd actually started our section of the work just before Severn Trent so we were able to finish a couple of weeks ago.

"At the time Severn Trent did say around two weeks was required."

Severn Trent says the £1 million investment will prevent more burst pipes, and the work was desperately needed because the previous ones were decades old.

A spokesman for Severn Trent said: "“We’re happy to say that our £1 million investment to help prevent bursts in Worcester city centre is now complete.

"We’d like to thank our customers or the patience and understanding they’ve shown throughout this essential piece of work."