Motorists in Dundee endured chaos as the first day of new demolition work brought waterfront traffic to a standstill.
Hundreds of cars were caught up in queues along much of Marketgait and the city centre area as the removal of a former Tay Road Bridge ramp began on Monday.
Despite repeated warnings of delays, many motorists failed to heed the advice issued by contractors and Dundee City Council, finding themselves stuck in lengthy tailbacks as a result.
The cause of the queues was the closure of a small stretch of road on Marketgait between the City Quay roundabout and Commercial Street to allow for the demolition of an overhead stretch of the now defunct bridge ramp.
And yet more headaches will await drivers today as the second day of work at the site continues.
The first sign of tailbacks became evident during the morning rush hour with vehicles queuing around City Quay as far back west as the Riverside Roundabout.
These delays were to continue throughout the day, with many frustrated drivers performing U-turns in the middle of the chaos in an attempt to find quicker routes.
As well as the City Quay and Marketgait areas, delays were reported as far away as Union Street in the city centre, as motorists tried to find rat runs to the east end of the waterfront.
The work has been carried out over the jubilee holiday weekend in an attempt to minimise inconvenience.
The closure will be in effect until 7am on Wednesday when the stretch of Marketgait will reopen to vehicles.
The works are part of a £1 billion project to completely revamp the city’s waterfront area. There will be ongoing disruption to traffic throughout much of the process, as the local road map is redrawn.
The road network in the area will be completely redesigned from the old roundabout format to a grid of wide, tree-lined boulevards designed to extend the city centre right down to the waterfront.
The centrepiece of the redevelopment will be the £45 million V&A museum, set to open in 2015.
The problems were compounded when the Tay Road Bridge was closed for around 10 minutes at the height of Monday’s rush hour following two breakdowns.
Cars suffered mechanical problems on each side of the carriageway shortly after 5pm.