Transport chiefs have rejected calls to suspend bus lanes in a bid to get the city moving with seemingly endless road repairs leaving Birmingham gridlocked every rush hour .

The call came from opposition Conservative councillors who said they were being inundated with complaints from commuters about the engineering which has caused major congestion on key routes throughout the city for a month.

A spate of works was launched in January, including the closures of slip roads onto M6 junctions five and six at Erdington, the demolition of Paradise Circus in the city centre and lane closures on major routes Bristol Road and Chester Road, piling misery on road users,

Tory group leader Robert Alden, whose Erdington ward has been hit by congestion with the M6 works, said: “While we welcome transport improvements in the city, work must be planned in a way which doesn’t strangle our economy through congestion.

“Some junctions, for example Lancaster Circus and the pagoda island [Holloway Circus] currently have bus lanes approaching them which are laying empty while large queues extend back blocking further junctions. We should ask the highways department to examine if congestion could be eased by temporarily removing the bus lane restrictions. We should put the residents and commuters of this city first.”

But Labour cabinet member for transport Tahir Ali rejected the call, saying that bus lanes are vital in encouraging people to switch from cars to public transport.

He said: “In order to reduce the traffic impact of the current works in the city we are positively encouraging the use of public transport. The established advantage which bus lanes give to buses, in terms of improved journey times, is crucial in encouraging this shift in transport choices.

“I do not believe that the suggestion to remove restrictions from bus lanes would be beneficial.”

He added many of the roadworks were a result of an unprecedented level of development and a sign the city’s ‘aspirational economic agenda’ was beginning to pay dividends – citing the Metro extension and Paradise Circus development. But he warned of further difficulties ahead.

Coun Ali (Lab, Nechells) said: “This unprecedented level of activity is anticipated to increase over the coming years, due to the council’s success in both attracting development to Birmingham and securing funding , for such initiatives as the Cycling Revolution, which must be spent according to restrictive government timetables.”

He said utility works, such as gas mains being replaced on a massive scale, are also having an impact, while the Highways Agency was responsible for the works on the M6.

“Through our co-ordination processes, all major works are identified and discussed with all potential street works undertakers.

“Proposals are evaluated and approved on the basis of both individual scheme acceptability and their potential cumulative impact when taking in to account other programmed works.

“While it is clear that all major works will result in some form of disruption to traffic movement, part of the approval process encourages works promoters to mitigate against traffic impact and to co-ordinate those mitigation measures with projects on the network.”