Work to repair sewer damage caused by last year's fatberg in Kingston has been put back until at least August.
Thames Water were originally due to return to London Road in January, to complete works started last summer when the 15-tonne blockage was first discovered.
But Kingston Council has said today the work has now been postponed until mid August 2014 at the earliest - more than a year on from the fatberg being found.
In a traffic alert statement today, the council said: "Thames Water are still undertaking investigatory works in this area.
"As a result, the earliest possible start date of late February 2014 is now unachievable.
"Taking into account the need to undertake other works in the surrounding area (which will cause less disruption), the earliest possible date that the London Road works will commence is now mid-August 2014."
The Kingston fatberg caused traffic chaos last summer, as London Road was partially closed while engineers attempted to fix the broken sewers.
Last year's fatberg sewer works caused huge traffic jams in Kingston
The project was further complicated when fresh sewer damage was found beneath Cambridge Road, extending the works by five months.
Thames Water was then given a deadline by Kingston Council to finish as much of the works as possible before the Christmas shopping season, returning in January to complete the job.
Valerie Greenwood, from Alan Greenwood and Sons Funeral Services in London Road, said: "God knows what they'll find down there when they start digging it all up again."
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