Construction on a long-awaited bypass to ease Waterdown's desperate traffic woes is expected to start this year.

But one local official says he'll believe it when he sees it.

Shovels will be in the ground in late 2015 for the $45-million east-west bypass, a key thoroughfare needed to keep up with the town's explosion of development. The project, which dates back about 30 years, only got the final nod from the province in fall 2013.

Arend Kersten says he likes the sound of construction starting this year, but after so many years, he can't help but be skeptical.

"This bypass has been talked about for years and years," said Kersten, executive director of the Flamborough Chamber of Commerce. "We have gridlock every night.

"It will be tremendous when it's done. But I'll believe it when I see it."

To hear Judi Partridge tell it, people will see it. The Ward 15 councillor says the city is designing the bypass now. It will issue construction tenders this year. Construction will begin in late 2015 and continue into 2016, she said.

For Partridge, that's not a moment too soon.

"It'll be lots of pain for about a year, but we've got to get it done," she said. "It's ridiculous right now. It's affecting everybody."

The bypass is a symbol of the woes facing Waterdown. The village's proximity to highways and GO stations, combined with numerous new subdivisions, has drawn commuters and families alike. The population has grown by at least 3,000 people since 2001, and is expected to climb.

But new residents bring new traffic. The city tried to slow development until it could build more roads, but it lost that challenge at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) in 2005. Now the development is there, but the road is not.

It's caused tension. Business has suffered, Kersten said, since customers don't want to battle the gridlock. And at an all-candidates meeting in the October municipal election, Partridge — who inherited the issue when she was first elected in 2010 — fielded questions about why it wasn't done.

"That was a ruling by the province and there's nothing we can do about it as a city," she told the crowd. "It's completely out of our hands."

The bypass will divert through traffic north of the community away from the congested Dundas Street (formerly Highway 5) corridor that runs through the centre of the town, and will extend out to Highway 6.

The city also plans work on Parkside Drive this year. That will include three new stoplights, bicycle lanes and adding lanes along a stretch of the road.

The city and Burlington also plan a north-south bypass, which got final provincial approval in November. But there are still details to hammer out, Partridge said. That includes land acquisitions and negotiations with Burlington to share the cost. It could be 2018 before construction starts on that, she said.

Kersten wants to see the east-west bypass happen this year. But it's 10 years overdue, so he's used to being skeptical. On this subject, he repeats the same line.

"I will believe it when I see it," he said.

"And when it happens, I will be at the ribbon cutting, taking pictures."