Edge Lane will remain closed until August as repairs to a large sinkhole are ongoing.
The outbound lane of the busy route has been out of action since a hole measuring three metres deep and six metres wide opened up last week.
United Utilities are working on fixing the sinkhole at the Beech Street junction as well as repairing a blocked sewer eight metres beneath the surface.
A statement from the water provider has now confirmed that the works on Edge Lane will take no fewer than several weeks to complete.
“We’re working 24/7 on this, with double shift patterns and we do thank people for their patience during this time,” said a spokesperson.
“Ensuring we don’t cause any further disruption to other utility pipes running within our working area is a priority.
“For example we have a water pipe which serves a large part of the local community which we need to work around carefully.”