Bingley campaigners have today welcomed long-awaited £400,000 repairs to the town's Main Street.

Motorists will benefit from a quieter, safer road surface along the A650 after resurfacing begins today.

The work, carried out by the Highways Agency, comes after traffic through the town was halved after the new relief road opened in December.

Councillor David Heseltine (Con, Bingley) said the work was another example of improvements in the town.

"There's no way this work could physically have been done before the relief road because of the amount of traffic," he said.

"The road desperately needs resurfacing and once it's finished we will have two brand new roads in Bingley." Better Bingley Campaign acting secretary Eileen Sinclair said she would be pleased to bid goodbye to holes in the road which made it difficult for pedestrians to cross, especially after rain.

The work along the road, between Myrtle Avenue and Harden Road, will last for about five weeks and will be done in off-peak hours and evenings to minimise disruption.

The scheme will renew and strengthen the carriageway, improve safety and skid resistance and benefit the environment by significantly reducing traffic noise. Minor repairs to kerbs will be made. And cabling and signalling ducts will be installed, too, so that traffic signals can be installed later without damaging the new road surface. Resurfacing will then take from Monday, February 29 to Saturday, March 20.

Highways Agency project manager Andrew Brown said once the work was completed the road would no longer be a trunk road and would become Bradford Council's responsibility.

Traffic will be reduced to a single lane throughout the work, with temporary signals and diversion routes. Bus stops along Main Street will also be relocated.

Access to and from Queen Street, Market Street and Dryden Street will be restricted and there may be other temporary side road closures.