Effective today, the City of Kamloops is making three traffic changes through the Victoria Street West construction zone.

Drivers on Lansdowne Street will now be able to turn right onto both First and Second Avenue.

Civic Operations Director Jen Fretz says another change is on Seymour Street, where the north crosswalk on First Avenue will be closed to pedestrians.

“The intent of the traffic changes is to make sure that we are making it more efficient wherever possible traffic going through the construction area, and even approaching the construction area,” she said. “So these changes were made in order to reduce congestion as much as possible.”

Fretz says they’ve already heard that today’s changes have improved congestion through the construction zone.

“So that’s really good to hear, and the hope is that it will continue to improve the flow of traffic and reduce congestion overall.”

The project on Victoria Street west is into it’s third week, and Fretz says unless announced otherwise, these changes will be in effect for Phase One of the project, which is due to end at the end of July.