Frustration is mounting in LaSalle as residents and visitors deal with increased traffic on Malden Road.
"I do agree it is worse than it has ever been but if we notice, it's really been this past week," says LaSalle mayor Crystal Meloche.
Speaking on AM800's The Morning Drive, mayor Meloche says residents have been reaching out to council members to voice their concerns and frustration.
She says the town has experienced increases on Malden Road on and off for the past year and says this past week has been worse but says it's understandable with the start of school.
"We're seeing more cars especially in the Malden area," says Meloche. "We have a school just off the side there at Sandwich, so there's more parents picking and dropping off their kids and than also we have the buses and the construction that we're dealing with. So we're seeing quite a bit of traffic, more than what we're use to I guess is the best way to put it."
She says the town plans to do a study on the traffic lights on Malden Road.
"For right now, we just ask our residents and visitors to slow down, leave maybe a couple minutes earlier because it's going to take a few more minutes to get through our town but at the end of the day we're only looking at maybe 5-10 minutes more than what a normal day would be," she says. "So I mean it's not significant but it's enough that it does affect people's days. I do know, I drive it every single day, multiple times but we have many projects that are coming up in the next year or two construction wise that is going to impact that area significantly. So we do have widening of Malden Road that starts next year."
The town issued a statement on social media on Monday about the traffic concerns.
In the statement, town officials say "they understand the frustration with the heavy traffic during rush hours and say it's part due to the construction on Ojibway Parkway between Morton Drive and Sprucewood Avenue and the construction in Sandwich Town."
The town believes traffic will lighten in areas of LaSalle when the construction of Ojibway is complete in a couple of weeks.
Town officials also reviewed the timing of lights on Malden Road and say they are functioning as designed.