DRIVERS are bracing themselves for more traffic misery with the start of months of roadworks, due to get underway on the London Road next week.

The busy commuter route that links the town centre to the M40 will be partially shut from next Monday when Bucks County Council contractors start work to fit new congestion-busting traffic lights along a stretch of the road between Hammersley Lane and Rayners Avenue.

People working in the Kingsmead Business Park, off London Road, will be among the worst affected.

Sally Webster, 28, from Campbell Close, Downley works for a pharmaceutical company in the business park and said the council plans would add to the already long queues of cars trying to leave after a day of work.

She said: "In the long run it will be a good thing. But the traffic from here will be much worse while they do the work. I only live three miles away but I avoid London Road because the traffic is terrible."

Colleague Marilyn Stevens, 55, from Chinnor, said the current traffic lights only allow five cars at a time to leave at the end of the day.

She said: "When you look at how many cars there are here it is terrible. You have no choice but to sit and wait in traffic."

The plan is to change the current lights set-up to better manage the flow of traffic into High Wycombe.

London Road will be widened to four lanes at the Rayners Avenue junction.

And the Laurel Drive lay-by will be closed and a new access road will be built to stop motorists using the stretch as a rat-run. Traffic lights will also be installed at the Hammersley Lane junction. This first stage of the plan, which will eventually spread all the way down the road towards the town centre, is expected to take three months.

Bucks County Council said the roadworks will have to be done throughout the day, meaning more grief for the many drivers who use the road to get to work.

Ian Reed, the county council local area coordinator in High Wycombe, said delays were inevitable and unavoidable.

He said: "There is no real alternative. This is something that needs to be done and it will improve the congestion on London Road."