DRIVERS in Newport face fresh traffic misery - even when the long-awaited new Southern Distributor Road is open - with the closure of a key city bridge.

Motorists were hoping the opening of the Southern Distributor Road would end the huge jams caused in Spytty and the Corporation Road area.

Instead they will be hit with a four month-long closure of Somerton Road and Somerton Bridge for road works.

Welsh Water wants to put bigger drains under the key road as part of a £600,000 scheme to reduce flood risks in Newport.

The company wanted to start work immediately but the council told them to wait until after the SDR is open, which could be in late November. Paul Scull, aftersales manager at Britannia Motors, on nearby Cromwell Road, said: "The SDR is bad enough. It seems to be one thing after the other.

"If the traffic gets as bad as we think it will then it's definitely going to affect business. People won't bother coming here.

"Corporation Road is already a nightmare. Now these roads could be next."

Nigel Desmond, landlord of the Black Horse Inn on Somerton Road, said: "This is a busy road and an important link to the SDR. We get a lot of passing trade and it will affect us."

Councillor Allan Morris, of Liswerry ward, said: "We aren't happy about it but this has to be done.

"It's common sense to start after the SDR has opened. If it started now it would be chaos."

The SDR was originally touted to open in June, but contractors Morgan Vinci shifted the opening to the end of July.

Then in August it emerged part of the road had sunk by up to three cm, meaning further delays when 100m had to be pulled up.

There was another headache in September when contractors demanded £28,000 to open the road for the Tour of Britain cycle race.

And last month we revealed that faulty drainage and issues with the safety barriers had pushed estimates of an opening to late November.

A spokeswoman for the AA said: "The authorities seem to be caught between a rock and a hard place. Unfortunately this is going to hit motorists further. Traffic is already a nightmare in that area."

A Welsh Water spokeswoman said: "Work will be carried out in three phases and will take approximately 16 weeks to complete. Somerton Bridge will not be closed to local residents.

"We anticipate starting the first phase of the scheme in early January 2005."

Further works will take place on George Street Bridge over one weekend. Newport council said carriageway repairs are essential. No date has been set for the works.