Highways bosses are keeping mum about back-street routes drivers could use to avoid the closure of a trunk road, amid fears of gridlock.

Major disruption is expected in Brighouse from June 7 when a bridge carrying the A641 Huddersfield Road is demolished and replaced.

Signs for traffic travelling from Bradford and Huddersfield will divert vehicles towards the M62 to reduce the number of motorists using Brig-house's back streets to avoid the road works.

Calderdale Council assistant director of technical services Martin Brockie said: "There will be local routes for local traffic but we won't be sign-posting them.

"As motorists know Brighouse is a bottleneck already during peak times and we don't want to snarl-up the town centre. The work is bound to cause disruption but it's essential and there's nothing we can do."

The bridge replacement, which will cost £600,000, is expected to take 15 weeks to complete.

Traffic coming from Bradford will be sent along Wakefield Road towards the M62 to Cooper Bridge.

Signs are already in place and traffic lights will be fitted at Cooper Bridge roundabout in an attempt to manage extra traffic.

But Glyn Marsden Foster, of the Brighouse Business Club steering committee, said traders expected their takings to be hit as shoppers travelled elsewhere to avoid congestion.

Mr Foster, who owns a jewellers shop in Bradford Road, said: "Most local people will know how to get around the bridge but I'm sure it's still going to cause problems.

"Wakefield Road, where the diversion is going, is already busy and I'm sure some drivers will chance it and try to get through the centre. We are in their hands. If the Council gets it wrong, there could be gridlock."

Mr Brockie said businesses in the town would be fully notified about the work and diversions.

The 113-year-old bridge, which runs over a railway freight line between Dewsbury and the Calder Valley, is too weak to continue carrying lorries.

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