The lanes from Gullmarsplan over the Johanneshov bridge and entering the Söderleds tunnel northbound were still closed at 1.30pm on Friday, with the Swedish Transport Administration telling drivers to stay home.

“There are going to be serious queues on the way into the city, which is putting a pretty effective stop to traffic,” Transport Administration press officer Bengt Olsson told commercial broadcaster TV4 on Friday morning.

According to the trafiken.nu website, traffic is being diverted over the Skanstull bridge, with long queues expected on national road 73, Nynäshamnsvägen as well as in the Södra länken and over Södermalm.

The leak was located on Friday morning and repair work is ongoing.

“We found it, there was a crack about 8-9 centimetres wide,” Alexandra Fleetwood, press officer at Stockholm Water and Waste, told TT newswire.

“They’ve started fixing the leak, they’re going to fill the hole and then we’re working towards the goal that it will be back to normal during the afternoon.”

Work is expected to continue until around 3pm on Friday, although this deadline may change.