Patience is a virtue — and a necessity — for drivers coping with P.E.I.'s roadwork season

Road construction season is well underway on Prince Edward Island, and officials across the province are asking drivers to be patient as some major projects cause big delays. 

"We're in the thick of it right now, with our major projects well underway," said Scott Adams, Charlottetown's manager of public works. 

The city's Eastern Gateway project near the Hillsborough Bridge is on budget and still scheduled to wrap up before the P.E.I. Shellfish Festival in late September, Adams said Wednesday. 

The project is a joint venture between the province and the city. It will connect Water Street to Grafton Street through the Charlottetown Event Grounds, as well as rearrange the traffic patterns that get drivers on and off the Hillsborough Bridge, which forms part of the Trans-Canada Highway to the east of P.E.I.'s capital city.

While it will eventually make commuting in and out of Charlottetown easier, Adams said large projects like these never fail to draw gripes from some drivers. 

"We do always get a number of complaints, from dust control to the driving course and how bumpy or rough it is, to delays. It's not unexpected," he said. 

"We do the best that we can. And we remind our contractors quite often [that] it's their responsibility to maintain those temporary detour roads, our gravel driving paths, to keep that dust down of course, and to keep traffic moving as efficiently as they can through that work site [while] ensuring that they have safety for those workers." 

Provincial crews have a role to play in the Eastern Gateway project too. Sometime after Old Home Week in August, they'll move in to install dedicated left-turning lanes at the intersection of Riverside Drive and Grafton Street on the Charlottetown side of the Hillsborough Bridge. 

Stephen Yeo, chief engineer with the province's Department of Transportation, said that project should take about two months to complete. 

The department is also replacing two bridges, one in Bloomfield and another in Bridgetown, and temporary bridges are in place in those areas. 

"It's the time of year for road construction," Yeo said. "If you have to be somewhere at a certain time, leave a little earlier, drive cautiously, pay attention to the signage and our staff people on site, so they can get through the site safely and our workers and our contractors aren't affected on the construction sites." 

'Most are understanding'

Summerside drivers are also dealing with some traffic headaches. 

Roadwork continues along Water Street East as the city makes way for its east-west housing corridor. 

A new road is also being built off Central Street, a main north-south artery, to make way for a new Kent Building Supplies store. 

"The vibe we get from discussing with residents and seeing online commentary is that people understand that it is the construction season and that projects do need to get completed... There's kind of a short window for us to get a lot of the work done that we need to get done during the summer months," said J.P. Desrosiers, Summerside's deputy chief administrative officer. 

"Generally speaking, I think most are understanding, although in some cases I'm sure there is a certain level of frustration when residents are trying to commute to work and other things throughout the day."

While summer roadwork may be impossible to avoid for some, officials say you can make your commute a bit easier with a bit of patience in construction zones. 

"Leave a little earlier in the morning, maybe take an extra-large coffee, and maybe have some audiobooks ready to go," Adams suggested.