Traffic woes from Summerside's east-west corridor work should ease soon, city says

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." 

The new road will cut across a portion of the Confederation Trail, but the path will stay open during the construction, Dersosiers said. 

Plans for the corridor also include building new active transportation lanes along the route.

"I think it'll help people navigate through our city more easily," Desrosiers said. "But I also think it'll help drive that new development piece, which is really the driver for this [project]." 

Summerside's population has grown in recent years, but the housing supply hasn't kept pace. The east-west housing corridor is one of the ways the city hopes to change that. 

"This is a development project to drive new housing in the city. This project is going to open up 345 acres of developable land that's much needed for supporting our housing issues in the city," Desrosiers said. 

"With the demand, we want to make sure we move this project forward fast in order to get that development underway and get houses built." 

All four phases of the project are expected to cost about $22 million, he said.

Some residents in the area told CBC News they hope the new road will ease traffic, while others are worried about apartments going up in their neighbourhood and their property taxes increasing.

The city said residents' taxes will stay the same unless their land is developed.