The streets of downtown Canton are getting a facelift. Currently, all of West Main Street is torn up and there are multiple projects going on. As Barry Wygel explains, the result of the construction project has led to major delays for motorists.

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POTSDAM, N.Y. -- It's a project that will completely reshape the roads in downtown Canton. But while the end product may be nice, it's causing many headaches during the construction.

"We had double lanes and multiple lanes of traffic coming into it and it made it difficult for traffic to get through in a timely manner," said Victor N. Rycroft, Chief of the Canton Police Department.

Wednesday, traffic was worse than any day since the project began. Motorists complained about delays stretching up to an hour. But the police are urging people to remain calm.

"I think people need to understand patience is required, simply because there are a lot of moving parts. Lot of big machinery working, lot of trucks, lot of people on the ground, in the trenches, so to speak," said Rycroft.

Rycroft said one issue the police and construction workers have been having is people trying to take side streets to avoid the delays.

People are hopping all around the side streets here in the village and instead of staying at the main intersections where they are controlled by flaggers, they are going to secondary sites and causing issues there.

The up to hour long delays motorists can face on Route 68 is not only an annoyance to them, but this and other construction projects in Canton have made some impact on the school busing routes as well.

"Traffic patterns it's constantly changing, given what's going on with this project. Day-to-day it's totally different. The drivers, again, have done a great job they kind of get a feel for what's going on when they come through in the morning and try to make any changes necessary from there," said Scott Sanderson, director of operations at the Canton School District.

While the project may not look like it is close to being finished, Rycroft said there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The project is scheduled to be done in mid-November.

There is a detour set up around the construction for motorists who want to avoid delays. Police are urging anyone who is just passing through Canton to follow the detour signs.