It's no April Fools' joke, Halifax's long traffic nightmare has begun.

Rush hour started much earlier on Monday at the Armdale roundabout, as traffic on Herring Cove Road and Chebucto Road backed up at all the arteries leading into the traffic circle thanks to a detour in place because of repair work to the Quinpool Road CN Rail bridge in Halifax.

The roughly 100-year-old bridge is on the stretch of road between Armview Avenue and MacDonald Street.

Traffic on the arteries feeding into the Armdale Roundabout were backed up Monday morning. Herring Cove Road is shown. (Paul Palmeter/CBC)

As a result of the work, non-local vehicular traffic is being detoured onto Chebucto Road. The detour will extend to Connaught Avenue and then south back on to Quinpool Road. Local vehicle traffic will be able to use Armview Avenue.

Laura McCorry was 30 minutes late for work at her job near the roundabout. She took a bus in from Herring Cove but then got off and walked because it was faster. She described the traffic as "crazy."

Coun. Steve Adams said traffic engineers were stationed at different points along the detour route and roads feeding into Chebucto Road to observe traffic. He said once more information is gathered, adjustments may be made.

Crews repair the CN Rail bridge on Quinpool Road Monday morning. (Paul Palmeter/CBC)

"I'm confident it's going to be as less bad as possible when everything is done," said Adams.

The repair work is expected to last into August.

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