WORK has been completed on a busy dual carriageway which was brought to a halt when a crack appeared in the road.

The opening, which was 2ft wide and 10ft deep, cut Sunderland off from the neighbouring town of Houghton-le-Spring.

Experts believe it could have been caused by disused mine workings opening up.

A Sunderland City Council spokesman said last night: "The carriageway work has now been completed.

"The slow lane will remain closed on Wednesday to allow for the completion of footway reconstruction and the road should be back to normal by Thursday.

"At this stage, there is no intention to do any excavation on the southbound carriageway, but we do plan to carry out some non-invasive monitoring of the carr- iageway using radar.

Geologist Bryan Young said: "This could continue for years to come. I think the council will have to carry out repair after repair because of the position of the fault.

"The position of this fault - in line with a busy carriageway - is very worrying.

"We are not sure of the exact cause of the problem and we are working closely with the city council to see what can be done."