Roadwork underway at one of Charlottetown's busiest intersections

Construction has started at one of Charlottetown's busiest intersections. Roughly 30,000 cars come through here at Capital Drive and North River Road every day. The city says this work is to help make all that traffic flow more smoothly. Officials say this is one of the top five busiest intersections in Charlottetown, especially during rush hour. And the work is the first phase of the city's North River Road master plan. The big change here will be extending the right turning lane on North River Road south to Thompson Drive, so people will be able to get into the right turn lane sooner. If you're heading north, coming from downtown, and you're coming up to Capital Drive, we currently have a right lane that ends just a little bit past the McDonald's, so that lane will be extended back and widened further. We have enough right-of-way space to continue that back. Crews are also doing some stormwater flow work, as well as adding new curbs and asphalt around the intersection. It's expected to take about six weeks. It's a little bit of short-term pain for long-term gain, and we'll see better traffic flow and less congestion once this work is done. But again, it's the first step in the long process of improving the North River Road. The North River Road master plan extends from Capital Drive all the way to about Queen Charlotte School. It's looked at ways to help traffic flow, like roundabouts, plus where sidewalks and active transportation routes like bike lanes can go. But there's no timeline for when it'll all be done. This work always, you know, it has to get done sometime, and we have to start somewhere, and we've identified it, our team has identified this as the first step to kind of improving and trying to align with our master plan goals and our traffic and congestion goals for all of Charlottetown, and especially with the North River Road master plan. The city received federal money for this work. It'll cost over a million dollars, and the goal is to get it done by the time the snow flies. Connor Lamont, CBC News, Charlottetown.