SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - With warmer weather comes long waits in traffic.

Construction in two areas of the city caused major traffic disruption for drivers over the last week and a half and drivers can expect more of the same as summer rolls along.

Franklin Avenue was dropped down to one open lane near 57 Street, heading toward the Multiplex late last week and through the weekend, while road crews prepared and paved the road where work was being done on the sewer lines.

During lunch hour Friday, traffic was at a turtles' crawl. Cars were backed up from 57 Street to Mildred Hall School. The wait during peak congestion was about 10 minutes.

Jordin LeBlanc, a public works engineer for the city, said Franklin Avenue was down to three lanes to prepare a section of the road to be paved last Sunday.

Road construction on Old Airport Road near the Kingland Ford dealership began Wednesday morning and caused major traffic delays the rest of the week. At noon hour, drivers waited up to 20 minutes to get through the construction zone as traffic backed up from Kingland all the way to the Home Building Centre.

"They are reconstructing the road to improve drainage," said LeBlanc, adding they have no time line on when construction will be completed. "There is nothing specific at this point, it's going to happen in stages.

LeBlanc said Old Airport Road roadwork will be intermittent over the summer months and drivers will experience road construction at various places around the city throughout the summer.

The city has budgeted $1.695 million in roadwork this season, about $100,000 less than last year.

"There is going to be road work throughout the summer, continuous work on Gitzel," he said. "There will be work on Kam Lake Road, Finlayson and 50 Street."

He said while the work along Gitzel Street to complete water and sanitary sewer work will take place all summer, the rest of the work will move in stages.

"As far as the paving goes they'll move from site to site as the work progresses," said LeBlanc.