Kendal is bracing itself for another three weeks of road works as the next stage of United Utilities' water mains improvement scheme goes ahead.

From Monday, May 10, motorists reported long queues not only at the heart of Kendal but also on routes leading into the town as work began on new stretches of road.

Excavations at Allhallows Lane and the Kirkbarrow junction of Gillinggate were opened up on Monday by contractors working for the water giant and will be blocked off until May 24 with a temporary one-way system in place on Gillinggate. Work is also to be carried out over several days on Highgate between the Mint Caf Bar and Woolworths.

Three days of work on Yard 23, Stramongate, and Low Fellside is set to begin on Monday, May 17, and will also end on May 24. Contractors for United Utilities may also start work on Kent Street.

A spokeswoman for the company said that such drastic work on Kendal's cast iron water system was only carried out about "once in a 100 years."

She added that the "main bulk" of the work should be finished by May 24 but that the water giant was also considering carrying out work on Kent Street. After this date the water company may continue doing some minor work, which would cause "minimum disruption".

But the general mood in the town centre from both traders and motorists was one of frustration at the further disruption following three months of road works.

Drivers were stuck in traffic for long periods as they tried to get their vehicles in to the town centre.

Jane Gresham, a credit manager from Grange-over-Sands who was visiting Kendal for the day, said: "It takes a long time to get into the town centre quite late in the morning so rush hour must be mad."

Many shopkeepers in the immediate area of the excavations and road closures feared their businesses were suffering as a result.

Chris Fishwick, the manager of The Gift Box, Highgate, said: "This has been a bad week already. The road works have been awful as far as we are concerned - we get the dust flying in off the street and the road works mean we cannot paint outside."

Chris Tyler, the owner of Wainwrights tearoom, on Allhallows Lane, was adjusting to three weeks of the road being blocked off.

He said: "The business has been affected, but the contractors have kept us informed and we are only expecting this to last three weeks."

l Last Friday, Kendal town centre was brought to a standstill when a gas pipe was punctured by a JCB digger working on replacing water mains on Highgate Bank. The road was sealed off to traffic for four hours.