ROAD-USERS face festive misery when work replacing 1.5km of a water main on the busiest road in Hyndburn starts this week.

The work, described as "essential" by United Utilities, will see the busiest part of Whalley Road between Whinney Hill Road and Victoria Street dug up and traffic disrupted in the run-up to Christmas.

"To say it's going to be a nightmare is an understatement," said Geoff Wheatmen of REACH, Residents of Enfield, Accrington, Clayton-le-Moors and Huncoat.

The work is the final part of a £2.8million scheme that has seen roads in Accrington, Huncoat and Hapton, including Whalley Road previously dug up over the past 18 months.

But the final stage of the programme, which replaces Victorian cast iron pipes will cause the most congestion.

Whalley Road is not only the sole thoroughfare between Clayton-le-Moors and Accrington but that 1.5km stretch sees huge congestion from the hundreds of wagons that visit Whinney Hill tip daily.

Residents and commuters have been advised to either "grin and bear it" or avoid the road completely. And parents have been asked to walk their children to school instead of driving them.

A United Utilities spokesman said the work -- described as "key hole surgery" for pipes -- will be carried out in stages and leave traffic controlled by two-way traffic lights.

Mr Wheatmen said: "It's going to be a car park situation with standing traffic going nowhere.

"To say it is going to be a nightmare is an understatement. The problem is it's the only way to get into Clayton from Accrington. There is simply no other way to do it."

Peter Jump, head of All Saints CofE Primary School, in Winckley Road, at the bottom of Victoria Street, said: "Perhaps more will have set out earlier. If the road works are causing a problem for parents getting to school, it may be an opportunity to find another way to come.

"The more children that walk to school the better all round. Although the vast majority of our children live on this side of Whalley Road we do have teachers and other children who come from further."

Coun Tim O'Kane said: "They are replacing a water main and it is going to cause havoc on the road. It just seems that it's nothing but grief for the people of Clayton and surrounding areas.

"It just highlights the fact the road needs something done to it to alleviate the congestion on it."

AA spokeswoman Jane Cobell said: "We know the road is one of the busiest in the area and we know it regularly has extreme congestion.

"Unfortunately the work has to be done and all we can say to drivers is grin and bear it."

Altham councillor David Myles said: "God help us. I know the work has to be done but it is the busiest road in the borough. I would say if you really do not need to use your car don't use it. Let's try walking some children to school instead of driving them "

A spokesman for United Utilities said: "We have a tiny stretch left of a job that has been carried out in Accrington, Hapton and Huncoat replacing 33km of pipe over the last 18 months.

"We aim to be finished by Christmas and we appreciate this may cause minor inconvenience to motorists but it is a price we all have to pay for cleaner, better water."

The part of Whalley Road affected by the works is the stretch between the junctions of Whinney Hill Road and Victoria Street.