Construction to tie up busy Sudbury intersection for months

It's going to be a tough commute for the rest of the spring, summer, and fall for Sudbury drivers who pass through the intersection at Lasalle Boulevard and Notre Dame Avenue.

It's one of the busiest spots in Sudbury — with about 50,000 cars travelling through each day.

Work crews are adding lanes and upgrading underground utilities. Construction will last until December, with final paving in the summer of 2014.

City of Sudbury roads director David Shelsted said the project could cause a ripple effect on other heavily travelled roads.

"We expect that the congestion in this construction project will move to other corridors in the city," he said.

"How much [traffic] will move out of this intersection, it's not really known."

Shelsted said it's difficult to predict how long commuters will sit in traffic at Lasalle and Notre Dame in the coming months, as drivers seek alternative routes.

Measures are also being taken to reduce delays — for instance, conducting some work at night.

Gridlock this week not related

A water main break in the area earlier this week gave Sudbury drivers a taste of what may be to come. But Shelsted said sudden lane closures will be avoided as much as possible.

"We can always get some unforeseen circumstances, like a couple of days ago when we had a water main break, we weren't anticipating that," he said.

"[It] made us close a couple of lanes that were really close and really affected travellers on their morning commute."

The construction plan calls for one lane of traffic to be open in all directions through the duration of the work at Lasalle and Notre Dame.

City assessing bus schedules

The city of Sudbury said it is still assessing whether bus schedules will have to be modified because of the potential traffic delays at Lasalle and Notre Dame.

In the meantime, riders can check the 'my bus' website and mobile app to see if buses are running on time.