A busy road junction in the heart of Ipswich which has caused major traffic problems in the town is set to re-open early on Saturday morning after repair work was completed ahead of schedule.

The junction of Grafton Way and Commercial Road has been closed since a sewer collapsed early on Monday. Its closure led to major traffic hold-ups across the town as traffic struggled to find alternative routes.

The repair work was expected to take a week to complete – but the main was repaired by Friday lunchtime and work to repair the road surface was able to start immediately.

The resurfacing was completed during the afternoon – but the surface needs at least 12 hours to settle and prove before traffic can use it, so it is expected to re-open before dawn on Saturday.

A spokeswoman for Anglian Water said: “We are very sorry for the inconvenience that the collapse caused, but our engineers have been working very hard and we are pleased that they have managed to complete the work ahead of schedule allowing the road to reopen early.”