Gridlock at Armdale Roundabout as Quinpool Road bridge repair starts

It's no April Fools' joke, Halifax's long traffic nightmare has begun.

Rush hourstarted much earlier onMonday at the Armdale roundabout, as traffic on Herring Cove Road and Chebucto Road backed up at all the arteries leadinginto the traffic circlethanks to a detour in place because of repair work to the Quinpool Road CN Rail bridge in Halifax.

The roughly 100-year-old bridge is on the stretch of road between Armview Avenue and MacDonald Street.

As a result of the work, non-local vehicular traffic is being detoured onto Chebucto Road. The detour will extend to Connaught Avenue and then south back on to Quinpool Road. Local vehicle traffic will be able to use Armview Avenue.

Laura McCorrywas 30 minutes late for work at her job near the roundabout. She took abus in from Herring Cove but then got off and walked because it was faster. She described the traffic as "crazy."

Coun. Steve Adams said traffic engineerswere stationed at different points along the detour route and roads feeding into Chebucto Road to observe traffic. He said once more information is gathered, adjustments may be made.

"I'm confident it's going to be as less bad as possible when everything is done," said Adams.

The repair work is expected to last into August.