A BUSY road will reopen at 2pm today (Friday) after it was shut earlier this week for emergency repairs to a collapsed sewer.

The A38 in Kempsey has been closed since Tuesday and a team of engineers from Severn Trent have been carrying out repair work.

The road will re-open today, under control of temporary traffic lights, but engineers will need to return in January to complete repairs.

Speaking to the Worcester News on Thursday, Craig Bayliss, from Severn Trent, said: "Unfortunately, as we’ve been digging down towards the pipe we’ve found large amounts of groundwater which constantly needs to be removed from the hole.

"This, coupled with the fact that it’s really sandy means that, when we pump the water out, we’re also taking out the sand which means there’s a real risk we’ll undermine the road.

"To get the work done, we need to get some specialist equipment and work out the best way to make sure we don’t create an even bigger problem.

"This means we’ll have to spend some time planning the best way forward.

"As this will take a couple of weeks we’ve decided to reopen the A38 to make sure we don’t cause any unnecessary delays over the Christmas period.

"Temporary two-way traffic lights will be in place until Sunday (December 18) while the new road surface sets.

"We’re really sorry for the impact this emergency work has had.

"While we prepare for further repairs in January we’ll be using tankers to take sewage away from properties in the area to make sure no homes fall victim to flooding."

The company will be working closely with Worcestershire County Council on plans to carry out more work in January which will require another full closure of the A38.