Underpass planned for Charlottetown bypass

The P.E.I. government has put aside money to build an underpass on the Charlottetown bypass.

The plan is to have Riverside Drive pass under St. Peters Road. That intersection is currently controlled by traffic lights. In addition the province would build a roundabout at Northridge Parkway and St. Peters Road, the next intersection as you travel up St. Peters Road toward Souris. Transportation Minister Robert Vessey says traffic has been piling up there, as motorists try to get in and out of the Hillsborough Park subdivision.

“They're having trouble getting out that way. It's a lot of traffic coming in in the morning especially rush hour morning, and the evenings leaving,” said Vessey.

“We're trying to make the traffic flow better there. Some people are lined up there for quite some time in rush hour to get out.”

The $6 million project would be cost shared with Ottawa.

The plan is in the province's five-year capital budget. Vessey doesn't know which year it will be built, but he said it won’t be next year.