Motorists were furious yesterday as they faced lengthy delays on the bypass caused by the re-construction of the Seymour St. intersection.
Delays are a regular feature of the project, but yesterday's holdups were excessive say drivers who called BayToday about backups resulting from closure of one of the northbound lanes while the contractor was paving the northbound widening sections.
See: Seymour/Bypass intersection reconstruction resuming
One woman wrote asking if there is a time limit you can be held up by construction. She says she was on the bypass over two hours trying to get from Lakeshore to Seymour.
"There were no warnings? It’s probably still backed up past Lakeshore toward Astorville exit. There must be a sign or something they can post with predicted wait times or such. I was over two hours late for a medical appointment."
Another wrote, "It took us 1.5 hr from Lakeshore to Seymour due to construction."
And a Facebook poster said, "I got stuck there too! After an hour-long wait, it took me 10 mins to maneuver to the right lane to end up exiting at hwy 17, turning around and then 15 mins to get home."
Teranorth Construction and Engineering Limited from Sudbury is the contractor for the $6.6m project.
Spokesman Brad Issac told BayToday delays are unavoidable.
"They don't let everyone through at once, so it feels you're there for a long time," he explained. "They let a group of cars go then stop them. It's intermittent.
"There's a bottleneck there at the bypass. We have just two lanes of traffic and so we're bottle-necking people into one so we knew it was going to be a traffic nightmare."
The good news says Issac is that the project is ahead of schedule.
"We were supposed to be done next year but we're hoping to be done this fall, so we're asking for the public's patience. At the end of the project, traffic will flow so good there with the additional lanes we are building."
City spokesman Gord Young blames the unusual delays on "increased traffic being experienced at the Hwy 11/17 and Seymour intersection as a result of relaxed COVID-19 pandemic restrictions."
"The City of North Bay is advising travelers of potential traffic disruptions in the coming weeks as reconstruction of this intersection continues.
"Work at various locations within the intersection will occur over the next several weeks that may result in some lane closures to protect the travelling public and contractor’s personnel. The temporary lane closures will occur outside of the peak travelling times from 9:30 a.m to 3 pm. and nighttime hours from 7 p.m. to 7:a.m.Travelers should consider adding extra time to their schedule when using this intersection or take an alternate route."
BayToday was unable to get answers regarding increasing the use of highway message boards to warn drivers of predicted delay times or better use of detour signs.
