Victoria warns of downtown traffic delays due to underground pipe construction

Construction is pictured along Blanshard Street in Victoria. (City of Victoria/Twitter)

The City of Victoria is warning of traffic disruptions in the downtown core as the city works on underground infrastructure projects.

Work is already underway on repairing and upgrading a water main underneath Blanshard Street between Caledonia Avenue and Fort Street.

The work is expected to continue through the summer, according to the city.

"Resilient cities have resilient underground systems," said Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto in a release Wednesday.

"Renewing and upgrading our underground infrastructure is critical to protect our communities and ensure our core water, sewer and stormwater services can be maintained in the event of an earthquake or a climate change event," she said.

While construction is underway on Blanshard Street, the city will also work on road paving, adding new road markings and replacing old traffic signal equipment in the same construction zone.

The city also plans to work on sanitary sewers along portions of Cook Street and Store Street, and upgrade the sewer pump station at Chatham Street later this year.

The municipality says it's working with its contractor to minimize traffic delays when possible, but that drivers should still expect disruptions in construction areas.

An interactive map of where road work is taking place can be found on the City of Victoria website.

Funding for the projects comes from the city's 10-year, $53.8 million critical infrastructure work plan.

The federal government is also contributing funding from its Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund, though the exact amount is unclear.