A WAR of words broke out at Newport council yesterday over traffic chaos on one of the city's major roads.

The Argus has repeatedly highlighted the severe problems being caused by new traffic lights and bus lanes on Cardiff Road.

Local drivers say they are fed up with the jams they cause, dubbing the situation a "shambles" and emergency services have raised their concerns.

Newport council's transport chief, cabinet member for transport and sustainable development Council-lor Graham Dally, has already warned there is no easy answer to the problems - but insists that the work is essential.

He said: "We have to live with the pain until we get the Southern Distributor Road up and running. There is no short-term solution."

The £60m SDR due next summer is expected to ease Newport's traffic woes, Councillor Dally said.

But at yesterday's Newport council meeting, Labour councillors told their own ruling party that something must be done in the meantime.

Ron Jones, councillor for Pill, told Councillor Dally that traffic tailbacks were causing havoc in his ward.

He said: "The statement to accept what we have got on the roads down there until the SDR is open is intolerable and unreasonable.

"If we have to wait then we should do something down there at the present. "Why not use the traffic lights at peak hours and use a mini roundabout at other times? Let common sense prevail. It's a recipe for disaster if we don't do something about it now."

And Councillor Lindsay Al-Nuami, of the Gaer ward, said: "Bus lanes are an essential part of a modern traffic system, but the bus lane outside the hospital is causing a lot of difficulty for people. Particularly those who cannot walk very far but have to get into the Royal Gwent."

Councillor Dally said: "There was full consultation about the bus lane outside the hospital. Hospital management were fully supportive as it gives their ambulances direct access.

"We are in for a major rebuild of the city. There's a £90m development of the centre and however much the new university costs.

"We will have major traffic problems when all that work goes on. The city is going to see major investment for the first time since the Docks Way distributor road was put in." He said he would investigate the build-up of traffic at a blackspot on the Cardiff Road.