Officials with the City of Summerside say traffic delays caused by a major infrastructure project in the city will begin to ease soon.
Work began on the city’s east-west housing corridor project earlier this year. Since then, it’s spurred regular tie-ups along Water Street East, a main entry point into Summerside.
The project will eventually connect Water Street East with Ryan Street, in the city’s north end. Officials have said the development will ease traffic, and open up enough land for developers to build up to 2,000 new housing units.
“As the fall approaches, the construction process will slow a little bit and it will get a little bit easier for residents,” said J.P. Desrosiers, Summerside’s deputy chief administrative officer.
Crews are at the halfway point of the first phase of the project, which is expected to take two and a half years in total. Work will continue to move north toward Ryan Street until the winter, and resume next spring.
The work is currently ahead of schedule, said Desrosiers, and crews are trying to mitigate traffic delays during the construction.
“We have been doing a relatively decent job of communicating those traffic issues with residents,” he said.
“I think people are taking different routes and finding ways out of the city.”
