WORK to beat raceday congestion during next year's Royal Ascot meeting at York is under way.

City Of York Council will begin alterations to a traffic island at the junction of Tadcaster Road and St George's Place on Wednesday as part of its Royal Ascot traffic management strategy.

The road alterations should have long-term benefits for York, as it will allow the use of a second lane for any large-scale event at Knavesmire and cut delays for motorists traveling to the city.

Residents will also experience less standing traffic outside their homes when race meetings are taking place.

The council says disruption to traffic while the work is carried out will be kept to a minimum. Work is expected to last for ten days and will be carried out by the council's commercial services team between 9.15am and 4pm. Stop-Go boards will be used to control traffic flow past the roadworks.

The island is one of three being altered at a cost of £7,500 as part of the strategy, unveiled earlier this month.

Council tax payers will meet the cost of the improvements, which highways chiefs say will be of benefit to the city as a whole.

Work has already started on the other two altered traffic islands, which are situated at the junction of the A1036 and Top Lane, and at the A1036 junction with Tadcaster Road, at Dringhouses.

It is the first review of route arrangements for race meetings in the city for 60 years and the scheme will be implemented for the first time at next month's Ebor meeting.

Other measures to be tested include closing Tadcaster Road to all out-of-city traffic from 11am to 2pm from the Tesco roundabout, no through routes in either direction along Knavesmire Road and Campleshon Road for the whole of each race day, and access to South Bank by permit only.

Royal Ascot is due to take place at York Racecourse from June 14 to 18, 2005.

Updated: 14:12 Friday, July 30, 2004