Motorists have expressed their fury at 'never-ending' traffic queues caused by roadworks on one of the main roads leading in and out of Wandsworth.

Chelsea Embankment is now closed to westbound traffic between Chelsea Bridge and Battersea Bridge until April 1 to allow for the upgrade of 100-year-old gas mains being carried out by Cadent Gas.

Although the road is in Westminster, on the north of the river, it is used by people getting to and from Wandsworth, including commuters such as Kate Bosworth, who said on Twitter: “Who thought it’d be a good idea to close Chelsea Embankment until 2018?! Took me so bloody long to get home from work.”

Rachel Snels, also on Twitter, said: "It's been three days and the situation around Chelsea Embankment is an utter s*** show - as anyone who has ever been there could have predicted.18 weeks of this is unacceptable."

Chris Mears said: "Chelsea Embankment closed westbound so everything piling down Kings Road - it's never ending."

Transport for London has told motorists to allow more time for their journeys, especially between 7am and 10am and between 4pm and 7pm on weekdays.

But it says the length of the works has already been reduced from eight months to 18 weeks by coordinating the gas engineering works to coincide with work being carried out under the Thames Tideway Scheme to build London's "super sewer" which would have taken an additional three months.

TfL director of network management Glynn Barton said: “We have worked with Cadent Gas and Tideway to ensure their utility work taking place on Chelsea Embankment is completed as quickly as possible.

“Through this coordinated approach, and by taking advantage of the Christmas period when traffic is lighter, the closure time has been reduced from eight months to 18 weeks.”

A Tideway spokeswoman said: “We are carrying out some enabling work to reline a water main that runs under Chelsea Embankment.

"To minimise disruption to local residents we’ve taken advantage of gas works being carried out by Cadent and are carrying out our works at the same time.”

For more information about the closure, click here.