The Corporation of Hamilton apologised to the public for traffic delays caused by the temporary closure of a section of Queen Street yesterday.

A Corporation spokesperson said road work scheduled along the stretch of Queen Street between Reid and Front streets, took longer to complete than anticipated.

"Work crews were out at 5 a.m. to repaint the road markings on this stretch of Queen Street," said the spokesperson. "However due to a combination of factors, the paint didn't dry as quickly as it should have, which delayed the 7.30 a.m. reopening of the street."

Queen Street was reopened to traffic at 9 a.m. By that time however, hundreds of motorists had been delayed by the closure.

Continued the spokesperson: "The paint usually takes about 20 minutes to dry. It just didn't work that way this time.

"We schedule all of our road works for off-times, times when there isn't any traffic, unless it's an area that can easily be cordoned off. This was an anomaly."