DRIVERS are set for more chaos this weekend due to the second stage of road closures to repair a bridge over the East Lancashire Railway near Rawtenstall.

A five-mile stretch of the southbound M66 and A56 will be shut from 10pm tonight until 6am on Monday.

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The northbound carriageway was closed last weekend, leaving drivers facing miles of diversions and also hit bus services from East Lancashire to Manchester.

The X41 and X43, which run from Blackburn and Burnley respectively, were delayed by up to three hours on Saturday, August 1.

John Threlfall, general manager of Burnley and Pendle Travel Ltd which runs the services, said: “The disruption as a result of the works over the weekend were nothing short of disastrous to our X43 and X41 bus services from East Lancashire to Manchester.

“We sustained significant cost with, at one point, nine buses stuck in the traffic queue between Bury and the start of the diversion.

“Many buses were up to three hours late, which is the worst I can recall, and we had to put additional resources into late returns from Manchester to get people home from the city.”

Highways England is carrying out repairs to the bridge, filling potholes and re-waterproofing the road.

Louise Baxendale, project manager at Highways England, said: “The resurfacing and waterproofing is vital maintenance work which will result in smoother and safer journeys for drivers.

“We need to close stretches of the A56 and M66 over the next two weekends to carry out this work and prevent problems with the bridge developing in the future .”

There will be a temporary ‘no waiting’ restriction along Market Street in Edenfield from the junction with East Street to the A676 Bury Road to allow for the increase is traffic being diverted along the route.

Short stay parking will also be restricted, but residents’ parking will be unaffected by the work.