Gridlock has become a daily reality for students, faculty and staff commuting to ASU along Rural Road.
Construction in the middle lanes of the street between Apache Boulevard and Terrace Road is causing major delays for drivers, said Larry Shobe, senior transportation planner for Tempe.
"The city of Tempe is putting in a new sewer line in preparation for light rail," he said.
Shobe said the construction was delayed because workers encountered an irrigation pipe and were not able to continue construction until the pipe was drained Friday.
"[Construction] was only supposed to take one week," Shobe said.
He added that construction should be complete by the end of the week, bringing the roadway back to normal.
Shobe said the construction has decreased the street's traffic capacity by 66 percent, causing delays.
"There isn't really one time of day that's better than another," he said.
In an e-mail to ASU Parking and Transit Services Wednesday, the city announced it would adjust traffic signals at Rural Road and Lemon Street.
The e-mail said the signals previously only gave "green time" to Rural Road, and drivers exiting Structure 4 on Lemon Street had a stop-sign condition.
The city will reset the signals to give green lights to vehicles exiting Lemon Street onto Rural Road.
"This should help the vehicles exiting the parking lot and hopefully prevent people from blocking the intersection," the e-mail said.
Sadie Sandquist, a nursing junior at Mesa Community College and Scottsdale Community College, said she uses ASU's libraries on the weekends, and the traffic has made accessing campus difficult.
"I think [the traffic] was pretty bad, even today, on Sunday," said.
The construction holds up her daily commute, she added.
"I've had to wait in traffic for 15 minutes," Sandquist said.
Reach the reporter at emilia.arnold@asu.edu.
