ENGINEERS say they are on track to finish major bridge repairs before York Racecourse's first meeting of the season.

They have stressed to impatient motorists that they are working flat out on the refurbishment of Holgate Bridge - even when they might appear to have slowed down.

A spokeswoman for Network Rail said that work on the surface sometimes had to halt until concrete had set, but workers were still carrying out equally important work on the sides of the bridge and underneath.

The company is half-way through the second phase of the £1 million scheme, which has caused severe peak-time disruption to traffic on the A59 into and out of York.

The project was originally due to finish for good by Easter, but those plans were derailed when Network Rail dug up the road surface and discovered that its underside was in a far worse condition than first expected. To make matters worse, the bridge also did not correspond to the original architects' drawings.

The project was instead halted during the Easter holidays to avoid disrupting extra tourist traffic, but then resumed in the middle of April.

Traffic has been reduced to one lane only, controlled by traffic lights, with complete closure of the road on Saturday nights, including this weekend, causing long queues.

Network Rail said it was doing its utmost to ensure the project finished before the first meeting of the summer season at York Racecourse, which takes place on May 16.

The iron structure normally carries about 20,000 motorists every day, but the race meeting will bring thousands of extra cars into the area, adding to the usual evening rush-hour problems if the bridge is still down to one lane.

The spokeswoman said the work was going to plan, and the company hoped the work would finish by the evening of May 15, allowing the lane restrictions to be removed overnight before the race traffic arrived.

She said engineers had asked her to stress that they were working flat out on the project, including working through every Saturday night, after facing suggestions from passersby that work had halted unnecessarily.

York Racecourse spokesman James Brennan has said previously that he is "very keen" for the work to be completed before the races start.