PEIDrivers in the city of Summerside are experiencing significant traffic delays as roadwork projects from the province and city overlap.Delays worse than they should be, Summerside councillor saysRyan McKellop · CBC News · Posted: Nov 21, 2025 5:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 4 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Summerside Coun. Justin Doiron says the city will take a hard look at tendering and procurement policies in 2026. (Ken Linton/CBC)Traffic around Summerside is slowing to a crawl and leaving drivers frustrated, as city and provincial roadwork projects overlap. Summerside Coun. Justin Doiron said most people expect traffic during roadwork — but these delays are worse than they should be. “I think the challenge is that contractors are biting off more than they can chew and they’re leaving projects dormant and unfinished to go work on other projects, and the traveling public are suffering because of it,” he told CBC News.”It’s preventing people from getting to work, getting home, school buses are getting caught up in it… It’s just much more different than a typical road work delay should be.”Doiron said better communication from contractors would help. “We’re going to be taking a hard look at our tendering and our procurement policies in the new year,” he said.”We need improvements on, you know, penalties when things aren’t completed on time, communication, things like that.”Short notice from the provinceDoiron said another issue is the short notice the city received from the province about when its projects would take place. Provincial roadwork is happening in the Sherbrooke/Travellers Rest and Reads Corner areas.”[W]e’ve only really been notified a day, maybe two, in advance when these projects were going to take place. And we have our own projects in the city like up on Greenwood Drive, and we have a couple on Ottawa St. and Harvard St. that have been sitting unfinished for weeks…”It’s just not fair to our residents.”The provincial department of transportation’s chief engineer, Stephen Yeo, said there is not much that can be done to help ease the flow of traffic, and this is work that needs to happen. P.E.I.’s chief engineer Stephen Yeo says the province’s roadwork should be done by the end of November. (CBC)”It’s a busy area, but you know, we have to get the work done. Soon [it’s] going to be at the point where we can’t do any construction work, so we need to get it done.”He said it’s better to do roadwork in this area at this time of year, rather than during the summer when there is heavy tourist traffic.Yeo said contractors working on the Reads Corner job should be done this week, while the Travellers Rest job will finish next week. He said it should be all wrapped up by the end of the month.’It affects everybody’Bill Martin is the owner of Water Street Bakery and Deli. He said this road work affects everybody — from drivers to business owners.Bill Martin, owner of Water Street Bakery and Deli, says the amount of traffic in Summerside recently is very unusual. (Ken Linton/CBC)”It affects business people, it affects commuters, it affects parents, it affects everybody. It’s a whole combination of circumstances.”Martin said that the amount of traffic he has been seeing is not normal.”It’s very unusual, I used to joke saying that a traffic jam in Summerside was being five cars back at a light. Well, I could tell you it might be five kilometres back at a light now, so it’s not great.”ABOUT THE AUTHORRyan McKellop is a graduate of the Holland College journalism program and is working as an Associate Producer and Web Writer. Got a story idea? Email ryan.mckellop@cbc.caWith files from Gwyneth Egan
‘It affects everybody’: Summerside residents dealing with ‘unusual’ amount of traffic due to roadwork
