The federal government is giving the City of Winnipeg a break and more time to complete the Plessis Road underpass.

The massive project is behind schedule. The city was required to have two lanes of Plessis between Dugald Road and Kernaghan Avenue open to traffic by the end of this July. Instead the city asked to have that deadline pushed back to Oct. 31, 2015.

"I am pleased to inform our community that Minister [Denis] Lebel has officially approved the City of Winnipeg's request for timeline extensions for the Plessis Road Underpass Project," Elmwood-Transcona Coun. Lawrence Toet said in a statement.

"While I continue to share the frustration of local residents and businesses regarding the slow progress of this project, I am very thankful that our government is preserving federal funding that was previously committed to this important project, provided the City of Winnipeg adheres to its revised construction timeline."

Up to $25 million in federal money was committed to the project in 2012.

The underpass is expected to be complete in 2017 — a year later than originally planned.