Westbound traffic has been reduced to one lane during the day
"Poor driver behaviour" has contributed to delays caused by tunnel works on the A55 in north Wales, the transport minister has said.
Edwina Hart said she knew the closures to install new lighting in the Penmaenbach tunnel, in Conwy county, had caused "frustration" for motorists.
She said contractors were working 24/7 to finish the work by Christmas.
Ms Hart said it was part of a £42m project to "improve the safety and resilience of this key route".
The Welsh government announced the westbound carriageway of the A55 Penmaenbach tunnel would be completely closed at night, with just one lane open during the day, for nine weeks from 18 October.
Minimising delays
In a statement on Monday, Ms Hart said: "I have received correspondence about this issue and appreciate that the works have caused some frustration for road users.
"Unfortunately, delays were longer than normal the week before last, and poor driver behaviour impacted on our efforts to minimise queuing.
"We are unable to re-open the westbound tunnel fully each day as this would extend the overall programme considerably, result in greater health and safety risks and significantly increase scheme costs.
"However, we did remove the eastbound traffic management during the day on the weekend to minimise delays."
Additional work is also due to take place in the Conwy and Pen-y-Clip tunnels in February and March, Ms Hart added.
She said the effect on traffic and local residents would be "significantly less" than at Penmaenbach.
- Published18 October 2015
- Published9 October 2015
