Night time curfews on the Causeway - the only road linking the East End with the rest of the Island - are likely to be lifted by the middle of this week.

And Permanent Secretary of Works and Engineering Derrick Binns said, weather permitting, he hoped all work on the bridge would be finished by Friday.

It has been more than a month since Hurricane Fabian wreaked havoc on the Causeway, sweeping four people to their deaths as high seas bombarded the bridge.

Works and Engineering staff have worked around the clock to rebuild the road, with traffic being able to use only one lane at a time, causing congestion to build on either side, and its complete closure after 7.30 p.m.

But yesterday, despite the torrential rain of last week, Dr. Binns said progress on the road was good and it should be open 24 hours a day from mid-week.

"We are hoping to be off the Causeway and have it ready for unrestricted use by the end of the week, and we are hoping to have some of the restrictions lifted by mid-week," said Dr. Binns.

"It is all dependent upon the weather, but we are hoping to be able to keep the bridge open after 7.30 p.m. within the next couple of days, and hoping that there will be no need for a stop-and-go system at night as the Causeway should be open for two-lane traffic again by mid-week."

However, he said during the day there would still be only single vehicle access on the middle section of the bridge controlled by Police as that part of the road was not yet properly asphalted.

He said workers would be working on that during the day, so traffic would have to allow for them, but at night the bridge should be clear.

Dr. Binns said carrying out the asphalting and road markings depended on dry weather, so if it rained in the next couple of days, the new completion dates could be altered.

But the good news on the Causeway also means work can now begin on other parts of the Island devastated by the hurricane.

Work has already begun this week on clearing South Road in Smith's, near John Smith's Bay, and work will begin in earnest on rebuilding the road in the next few weeks.

However, Dr. Binns said it would be a slow process and could be several months before it was back up and running for two-way traffic.

"We have started some clearing work down there now, and we are hoping to have one lane of the road open to traffic by the end of the month - that will be the lane on the rock side," said Dr. Binns.

"We have to complete some engineering studies, so we can secure the water side lane, and we suspect that it will be several months before its open as usual again.

"The critical thing is getting the engineering work done to design how we are going to secure that side of the road. There will be a period of time, once the road is clear and open for one-way traffic, that people won't see any workers down there and that's because they will be in the office working on the design."

However, Dr. Binns said although the entire team at Works and Engineering had been working on the Causeway, he believed that other projects may also get underway now, along with South Road, although, he was unable to give any detail.

Only one body has been recovered since Hurricane Fabian lashed the Island and took with it four victims, who were stranded on the Causeway - their cars having broken down and parts of the bridge damaged.

The body of P.c. Stephen Symons was found two days later floating close to the oil docks on North Shore at Ferry Reach.

There has been no sign yet of his colleagues P.c. Nicole O'Connor, St. George's Police station duty officer Gladys Saunders, or young father Manuel Pacheco.