Harbour Road should be open by the end of today following repairs to a sea wall battered by Hurricane Fabian which collapsed on Wednesday, Government announced last night.

Frustrated commuters faced further lengthy delays yesterday with traffic choked up along Middle and South Road as Harbour Road was closed off between Trimingham Hill roundabout and Valley Road, Paget.

But last night, Government's Department of Communication and Information confirmed in a statement that "barring inclement weather" the Ministry of Works and Engineering was "hoping to have Harbour Road re-opened to traffic by end of day Friday".

Commuters yesterday morning complained of it taking an hour and a half to get from Southampton to Hamilton, with traffic backed up from the City to Warwick Camp.

One commuter said yesterday: "I left Southampton at 8.30 a.m. and got to Hamilton at 10 a.m. It seemed to be moving OK. We never came to a complete standstill for long periods of time, but we were just inching along."

And last night, weary West End commuters had an even longer journey home, with drivers leaving Hamilton taking more than an hour to reach East Broadway and another 45 minutes to reach the junction of South and Middle Roads in Paget.

One Southampton resident, who contacted The Royal Gazette last night, said:"It was unbelievable - a nightmare - I've never seen anything like it.

"It took me two hours to get home, although once I reached Paget lights it wasn't too bad."

"But it's definitely the worst I've seen it. If it's going to be like this again in the morning I don't think I'll bother coming into work."

Another commuter, who took two hours to reach her home on Pomander Road, questioned why both lanes on Harbour Road were closed.

"Why block off both lanes?" she asked.

"I got permission to leave work at 4.50 p.m. but I don't think that made any difference - I didn't get much of a head start.

"It was just very frustrating. People were jumping red lights and getting very impatient. They were just trying to barrel their way through and there was no courtesy on the roads.

"But you can't blame people for being annoyed. I think this has just highlighted that we have a serious traffic problem in Bermuda. "

Even commuters who decided to put in some overtime at the office were not spared delays. Traffic was still slowly snaking along Trimingham Hill as late as 8.30 p.m.

Government laid on extra ferries and urged commuters to pool cars to alleviate the congestion.

The emergency ferry service running to St. George's was stopped last night to divert boats to the West End.

Starting this morning, the ferries Resolute and Serenity will be running from Rockaway in Southampton to Hamilton, starting at 7.25 a.m. and servicing the stops every 35 to 40 minutes.

And ferries will be running from 7.30 a.m. from the following West End locations: Dockyard Wharf, Boaz Island Wharf, Watford Bridge, and Cavello Bay. The return ferry leaves Hamilton this afternoon at 5.30 p.m.

Commuters travelling from Darrell's Wharf and Belmont stops are advised that one of the larger Somerset ferries, which can transport about 250 people, will be used on this route.

The regular West End ferry schedule is set to resume on Monday.

The road was forced to close after a six foot section of sea wall between Lover's Lane and Lower Ferry in Paget fell away on Wednesday. The sea was undermining a 30 feet stretch of road which threatened to collapse, said Works and Engineering consultant Peter Havlicek yesterday.

Mr. Havlicek said: "It looked like part of the sea wall had washed away and the sea was attacking under the road with a severe risk of the road collapsing."

Works and Engineering teams were back-filling a void under the road with concrete and replacing the wall. And Watlington Water was replacing a pipe which was damaged by the collapse of the wall.

A Government spokeswoman said yesterday: "We understand these are trying circumstances for West End commuters but the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Works and Engineering are asking members of the public to be patient.

"We are trying to rectify the Harbour Road damage as quickly as possible and we ask for your continued patience."