Commuters in Halifax are bracing for months of gridlock and detours, with a major project about to get underway on one of the city's busiest roads.

A large portion of Quinpool Road will be shut down for more than four months for a bridge repair and those who live or drive by the area aren't too happy about it.

Thousands of cars drive over it every day without giving it a thought, but now, the Quinpool Bridge will be on the minds of many motorists for nearly five months.

“It's something that has to be done,” said motorist Bill Moore. “I mean, I know it’s going to slow traffic up, but the bridge is probably getting bad.”

According to CN, it is. The bridge needs to be upgraded and strengthened. That includes fixing the concrete walls and arch.

Quinpool Road is a critical traffic route and one of six main roadways used to get into downtown Halifax and one of the exits from the Armdale Rotary.

Work will begin April 1 and wrap up in mid-August. That means detours for a large section of Quinpool for drivers and pedestrians.

“When mapping out a detour involving an arterial road, we must do our best to detour traffic onto roads of a similar classification,” said Halifax Regional Municipality spokeswoman Brynn Langille. “Chebucto and Connaught are both arterial roads, so that's why they were chosen for this detour.”

Cars, buses and trucks will be routed into Chebucto Road to Connaught Avenue and back to Quinpool.

That’s a detour some residents aren't too please about.

“I live over on Allen Street and a lot of people driving Quinpool during rush hour will take Allan Street as a shortcut,” said James Steemberg. “You know, we've got families and students living there, so I'm concerned there'll be more traffic driving down that street -- and they already drive pretty fast on it.”

For pedestrians and cyclists, they'll have to take Armview Avenue to Tupper Grove to Prince Arthur Street.

CN says repairing the bridge is the best option.

"Our engineering team have analyzed many scenarios, including the replacement of the bridge, and CN is confident that the chosen repair strategy is the best choice to achieve the desired safety objectives,” said CN spokesperson Alexandre Boulé.

The city says detour signs will help, but advise anyone who drives through this area, to start planning ahead.

Regular project updates will be posted on the city's website and they advise to follow them on Twitter for any updates.

This is project is also costing the city $845,000.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Amanda Debison.