Some people say Halifax really only has two seasons: winter and construction.
But this summer it seems the Halifax area has been hit with an incredible number of large-scale roadwork projects, slowing things down for drivers all over the city.
The Halifax Regional Municipality says there have been more than 125 construction projects across the city this year.
“There's also been more than 150 operations projects, which means fixing old things, and then there's been hundreds of more potholes and smaller repairs,” says Nick Ritcey, spokesperson for the City of Halifax.
Unfortunately for drivers, most of those projects have to be done at the same time.
“They either have to go summer to fall or spring to summer, or sometimes the three seasons combined, so unfortunately for a lot of those projects we have to work with the time we have the nice weather,” says Ritcey.
Drivers have taken to social media to complain about the delays, especially coming in and out of the city. One of those taking to Twitter was Saint Mary's University professor Robert Thacker.
“My route home is only about six kilometers, and normally we can do that in 12 to 15 minutes just from Saint Mary's at the southern end of the peninsula all the way out to the west end. Last night it took us an hour. That's four times longer. We can walk it in 55 minutes,” says Thacker.
Thacker says he's worried about what will happen to congestion next week when schools start back up.
“That first day back, the schools going back, the university's going back, everything gets crazy and you've got a lot of people wanting to get home early,” says Thacker.
Some of the bigger projects, like the work on Argyle Street, have been going on for months. But others, like the work being done near Sullivan's Pond in Dartmouth, have only just begun.
“During any of the bigger projects there's marked detours, so we really encourage people to stay on those marked detours because those are the routes that have been studied to help ease the traffic flow,” says Ritcey.
Of the 128 capital projects the city had planned for the season, they have so far finished 105. But some of the bigger projects, like St. Margaret’s Bay Road, will be under construction until at least October.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Emily Baron Cadloff.