ONE of York’s busiest roads will re-open on Saturday afternoon after a week-long closure.

Gillygate was closed on Monday after a large hole appeared because of a collapsed sewer but will now reopen in the late afternoon, with bus routes resuming as normal.

A Yorkshire Water spokesman said: “We are pleased to report that repairs are nearly complete and Gillygate is scheduled to fully reopen on Saturday at 5pm.

“This is sooner than we anticipated and is thanks to the hard work of our eight-man repair team who have worked long hours to repair two areas of damage to the sewer which involved deep excavations.

“We would like to thank people for their patience and look forward to returning the road to normal.”

The closure was initially thought to be in place until at least Monday after City of York Council said additional damage had been found and extensive works would have to be carried out to repair this section of sewer.

The council imposed a temporary traffic ban on Monday after the hole appeared in the carriageway about 30 yards from the Bootham junction.

Vehicles have been barred from travelling to and from York Hospital from Bootham, Lendal Bridge and the city centre.

A free shuttle bus service was in place all week to ensure people could access York Hospital.