Manchester council have promised an urgent review after traffic in the city centre ground to a halt on Tuesday night.
Many commuters were stuck for up to two hours as they battled with severe delays on the roads, buses and trams.
Whitworth Street, Portland Street, Princess Street and Great Bridgewater Street were all gridlocked, as some commuters spent an hour to travel what would usually be a 10-minute journey.
Transport for Greater Manchester say the chaos was the result of gas utility works currently being carried out on Medlock Street.
Manchester city council's city centre spokesperson, Pat Karney apologised to commuters who were caught up in the bedlam.
He told the Manchester Evening News: "The council apologises for the delays suffered by those getting to work or trying to get home this evening.
"We will call the transport managers in first thing in the morning so we can carry out an urgent review into what's gone wrong."
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The chaos continued well after what should have been the end of rush hour, with bus companies complaining of 'terrible delays,' that were 'out of their control.'
Footage showed rows of buses lined up after each other on Portland Street, with some taking up to an hour leaving Piccadilly Gardens bus station.
Queues of cars could be seen backing up the whole length of Deansgate from about 5pm onwards, before finally easing up around 7.30pm.
Trams travelling to Shaw or Rochdale were suspended in the city centre, operating via Market Street and Shudehill, due to the congestion.
Scores of commuters took to social media to vent their frustration.
One Twitter user wrote: @StagecoachGM I've not been waiting almost an hour at least an hour at least six buses have not turned up. No excuse for this?
"I've not missed an appointment and had to cancel on a friend."
Another said: "Why was Manchester such a traffic nightmare today, was stuck on Portland Street for more than half an hour and it didn't get much better from there until we got to Oxford Road."
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