Construction work will begin urgently to build extra lane space on the City West Link in Sydney, following a chaotic first week of the new multi-billion dollar Rozelle Interchange.

The opening of the new tunnel, meant to cut travel times from the city’s west and inner-west into the CBD, has instead blown out some peak-hour commutes by over an hour.

The NSW government changed signage early on to clarify toll-free sections, but “pinch-points” remain where cars must merge into a single lane as they approach city-bound entries to the Anzac Bridge.

An emergency meeting of the Transport Minister John Graham and high-ranking transport officials on Sunday afternoon has resolved to add a second lane in one section, and consider doing the same on Victoria Road to ease congestion.

A spokesman for Mr Graham said in a statement the extra lane would span for 400 metres at one major bottleneck, where the City West Link merges with the new Crescent Overpass before traffic enters the Anzac Bridge.

But he said expert engineering advice ruled out the possibility of keeping two lanes throughout.

Mr Graham said the work would be completed by Saturday, December 9.

“Work will begin at night and Transport [department] has already done a lot of work to effectively re-design the road,” he said.

“These are sensible recommendations from Transport for NSW that we believe will make a positive difference to get traffic flowing — but we must be vigilant that we do not simply shift the problem up the road.”

Transport for NSW is also investigating the potential for an extended second lane on Victoria Road, before it merges into one lane to join the Anzac Bridge.

Officials will monitor the effect of the changes after the extra lane space is added next week.