WESTBROOK – Once again, drivers will have to put up with a long summer of traffic hassles on William Clarke Drive, as construction on the busy roadway resumed last week.

The $5.5 million state project, which began last year just after Memorial Day, was originally supposed to be finished at the end of July this year, but the construction is taking longer than expected, according to John Mayol, the project manager contracted by the Maine Department of Transportation to do the work.

Mayol said the project may take as long as October, if the department authorizes an extension.

The goal of the project is to make the busy road safer for pedestrians, more attractive, and a better ride for vehicles. According to the department, over 22,000 vehicles travel along the four-lane road daily. The road runs parallel to Main Street, connecting the Westbrook Arterial and Saco Street.

When finished, the road will still have four lanes, but there will be a 10-foot-wide median in its center, landscaped with trees, shrubs, flowers and grass, along with ornamental lighting. A new sidewalk will be installed on the south side of the road, where there is none now. There will also be new traffic signals, Mayol said, both for people and vehicles.

“It’s to help pedestrians get across,” Mayol said.

Eric Dudley, the city engineer, said the new road will include turn lanes and more traffic lights. The lights, he said, will be timed such that anyone driving the speed limit will run into fewer red lights.

“The signal system will be vastly improved to make traffic move more quickly,” he said.

Another goal of the project is to reduce traffic on Main Street by making William Clarke Drive more attractive to commuters passing through Westbrook to Portland from communities west of the city, such as Gorham.

On the street Tuesday afternoon, vehicles slowed down to pass by road crews. One construction worker, who declined to give her name, said most drivers are taking the construction in stride.

“Everything’s going great,” she said.

One man who can’t wait to see the project finished is Donald Littlefield. He has co-owned the True Value hardware store, which sits along William Clarke Drive, for 19 years, and has seen his share of ugly scenes on the road.

He recalled how a woman was once killed while crossing the street, and said he will welcome the sight of new, visible, well-marked crosswalks.

“I think that’s the biggest issue, is people crossing the street,” he said.

Although he said he has seen people driving too fast along the road, he blames the difficulty in seeing pedestrians trying to get across, not the drivers.

“It’s pretty easy not to realize there’s somebody in the crosswalk, or waiting to go in the crosswalk,” he said.

Littlefield said another big problem is car accidents caused by people trying to turn. He said it happens so often, he couldn’t even guess how many accidents he has seen or heard happening in front of his shop.

“During the summer, with the door open, you always hear screeching tires, and a smashing sound,” he said.

The new turn lanes, he said, will help fix that problem. For now, he said, he and people trying to get to his business will have to deal with traffic jams while the work is going on, but he said the end result will be worth it.

“In the end, I think it’ll be good for my business, because I’ll have a left turn lane,” he said.

Traffic squeezes past construction on William Clarke Drive Tuesday afternoon. The work is expected to continue through the summer, and possibly into the fall. The goal is to make the road more pedestrian friendly, and to add turn lanes for vehicles. (Staff photo by Sean Murphy)