Portland is today holding its breath to see if an old road can solve the worst traffic queues to hit the island for decades.

Furious drivers have found themselves brought to a beach road standstill by enormous tailbacks of traffic caused by gas main work for the South West Regional Development Agency as part of development for the island's former naval base.

The wave of protest has forced the agency to act and drivers were today hoping that a Weymouth-Portland one-way system using the old mere road in the base will be the salvation for peak hour chaos.

Agency development manager Bruce Voss said he hoped that opening the base up would enable long-suffering motorists to notice a clear difference.

And he added: "The situation will be reviewed daily. In any case, we hope the work will be completed by the end of the month, although it may be necessary to use the mere road again for other works during the year involving electricity supplies and a new roundabout."

Schools in the area have been hit by the road works, which have delayed teachers and made some pupils so late that they arrived after first lessons had started.

Portland's Royal Manor School headteacher Paul Green said: "It took me an hour to get from Wyke Regis to Tophill

"It seems to me that with the former naval base close by it might be a good idea to use that for a one-way system, which has been done before.

"At the moment it is crazy and we are particularly concerned about our GCSE pupils who live in Weymouth and who start exams next week at 8.45am.

"We are trying to advise all of them to set out early to be on the safe side, but frankly if the road works had been managed in a better way this is something we would not have had to do."

Weymouth All Saints School Year Nine head Conrad Cole said: "It is absolutely ridiculous. A normal 15-minute journey from my home on Portland to school took me 40 minutes and children arrived late for registration. Some were even late for first lessons.

"Something has absolutely got to be done otherwise we just have four weeks of hell to look forward to. Staff here are very concerned to say the least."

Weymouth's Budmouth Technology College industry link co-ordinator Jane Fooks said: "I live on Portland and teachers such as myself cannot plan ahead. It is impossible.

"It took me nearly 90 minutes to get into Budmouth. It is absolutely crazy."

The gridlock is causing serious concern at the island's Royal Manor Health Care where practice manager Wendy Milverton said: "We have had appointments cancelled and doctors arrive late.

"This makes surgery run late and it is chaos. We have to re-book appointments and while many of our staff live on Portland they are getting held up in morning queues to get off the island.

"We are just hoping that we don't get an emergency call at peak times. We are also concerned about our duty doctor getting to calls."

Stuart and Sandra Fretwell, of Killicks Hill, Portland, were so concerned about being able to collect their seven-year-old daughter Sophie from Brackenbury school that they scrapped plans to go shopping in Weymouth in case they couldn't get back in time to pick her up.

Their home overlooks the massive queues and Stuart said: "If this is going on for weeks it is ridiculous."

Portland Town Council spokesman Margaret Page said: "I couldn't believe the morning traffic. It took me 75 minutes to get from Preston to Portland and I was on the island beach road for nearly an hour. It is ridiculous. Something has got to be done about these delays and soon."

Portland Plant Hire director David Hedgeman said delays were hitting his lorries so badly that he would have to lay off four drivers unless the situation improved.

Even his accountant Pat Ball, 63, has been hit by the queues, but she solved the tailback to work by getting off her bus and walking.

She arrived 20 minutes before the bus and said: "It is ridiculous. You are a prisoner here."

Operator Lynne Rogers of Portline Taxis in Victoria Square was furious at the delays and said: "It is so frustrating not to be able to get our drivers to where they are supposed to be going."