Traffic is facing severe delays in Durham city centre following the collapse of a manhole on a major thoroughfare.
A manhole has cracked open on the A690 after Leazes Bowl roundabout on Wednesday afternoon.
Durham County Council has imposed a lane closure leading to huge delays for traffic with GoNorthEast saying buses are experiencing delays of an hour.
Traffic is also affected by a crash on Margery Lane, meaning there is huge congestion in and around the city centre.
The council has confirmed that the lane closure will stay in place until Thursday morning to allow time for work to be completed.
The road will only fully reopen once the manhole is deemed safe for traffic to travel over it.
There will be hope that the issue is rectified ahead of the city hosting the 10th anniversary of the popular Durham Lumiere .
The four-night light festival returns to Durham on Thursday with around 200,000 visitors expected to flock to the city centre.
