EDMONTON - The Anthony Henday is supposed to provide motorists relief when commuting around the city. And when the northern leg finally opened last year, it did. But this summer, the orange construction signs and lengthy lineups are back - this time, at the southwest leg of the Henday. As crews perform maintenance on the roadway, motorists are stuck having to deal with major backups resulting from only one lane of traffic open in both directions.
"I got trapped in it for 25 minutes the other week there, and that's a big chunk of my day; 25 minutes of 8 hours is a fair chunk," says Rob Burns, who has lately been trying to avoid the freeway.
Stebve Hornung adds to the chorus of complaints. "You'd think with the amount of money put into the Henday it would have been built well but clearly it hasn't," he says.
Alberta Transportation says the maintenance being done on the road is mandatory, and can't be ignored.
"Once we open a roadway we see settlement of the road, same with asphalt or concrete," explains Heather Kaszuba with the department. "And now what we're doing with the concrete we're closely inspecting the wear on the road, making sure how it's performing, and if repairs are needed we're completing those."
"Unfortunately, with an asphalt road compared to a concrete road, the concrete requires very close inspection. So that means we have to close down the lanes on the road as we're going to complete the repairs."
Still, as morning commuters deal with the traffic congestion, many are left wondering why the work can't be done during off-peak hours.
Alberta Transportation says that while overnight shifts are happening, since concrete takes 7 days to cure before you can drive on it, it's taking longer.
"In this case we can't actually open the roadways when we've got panels with concrete that's curing. It's not safe to open the road. When we have panels removed and we have open holes in the roadway," explains Kaszuba.
She adds that after this year's maintenance, the southwest leg shouldn't need much else for many years to come. The bad news, though, is that the southwest concrete maintenance is scheduled for the entire summer, or until it's finished.
So in the meantime, your best bet is to just avoid the area if possible.
With files from Shane Jones, Global News
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2012.