SHOPPERS in Newport are being warned traffic hold-ups at a city retail park are set to continue until next year.

Visitors to the new 28East Retail Park in Maesglas currently face long tailbacks as work progresses on the Docks Way bypass and the Southern Distributor Road.

Construction at the site is not expected to finish until August 2003 - prompting fears that congestion can only get worse as more stores open on the new estate.

Steve Gillies, store manager of Big W, which opened last month, told the Argus he was concerned about the problems there.

"So many people are visiting the new store, and the single carriageway is not wide enough to accommodate the traffic. The problem is going to get worse before it gets better. We've been told the bypass won't be completed until next year. Seven other stores are opening here before then, so the traffic will only increase. Unfortunately, we will have to suffer until the dual carriageway is finished."

A spokesman for Newport city council said: "We are monitoring the situation." Construction of the Southern Distributor Road began in July this year. The £55 million scheme, financed by the Private Finance Initiative, will connect the Coldra roundabout in the east with the Ebbw Bridge in the west. It is designed to ease traffic in the city centre by taking vehicles from the motorway directly to the industrial areas.

But angry shoppers are also complaining about the traffic problems on the road. One motorist told the Argus: "I've never seen the old Docks Road so packed with vehicles, it's a nightmare. You have to crawl along at 30mph due to all the roadworks. It took me almost an hour to clear the bypass one evening. That can't be right."

Another driver added: "I am so annoyed. It's a death-trap driving on that bypass in the night because the road is poorly lit."

Drivers in Maesglas are also encountering traffic problems due to the construction of two bus lanes on Cardiff Road.