WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The $6.8 million roundabout project on Sykes Mountain Avenue has run into delays stemming from a lack of available workers, according to the project managers.

In an announcement Friday, officials with Hartford and the Vermont Agency of Transportation wrote that there will be “minimal work” done on the roundabouts, which opened to traffic this spring, at Sykes Mountain Avenue and Route 5 over the next few weeks because there aren’t enough subcontractors to work on the sidewalk and curbing parts of the projects.

“Work will resume on the roundabouts and sidewalk along Sykes Mountain Avenue when the crews are able to return,” the announcement said.

The delays on the remaining work are due to a number of projects happening in and around Hartford at the same time, said Delia Makhetha, the spokeswoman for the Hartford Roundabout and Sidewalk Project in an email Wednesday. However, she said officials don’t expect the delays to impact the project’s planned completion date in October.

The federally funded project, which is being overseen by the town, started in the spring of 2020 with the goal of adding two roundabouts to Sykes Mountain Avenue, one at the intersection with Route 5 and the other at the intersection with Ralph Lehman Drive, to increase safety and improve traffic flow. Around 16,000 vehicles travel through that area every day and prior to the project it was known as a “high-crash” location, according to Vermont Agency of Transportation project manager Thad Robertson.

Workers installed the roundabouts this spring and traffic patterns changed in April. Over the next few months, workers will finish installing sidewalks and curbing, placing topsoil and doing final paving and line striping, according to Makhetha.

Already, the new traffic patterns appear to have made a difference, according to Hartford Police Sgt. Connie Kelley. In an interview Wednesday she said she and other police were initially concerned about crashes at the site amid the construction, but that they haven’t responded to a lot of issues since the traffic patterns changed.

“I was really hesitant about it at first, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. It seems like traffic is flowing well,” Kelley said

She said that police continue to keep an eye on the roundabouts, and are often stationed by the project at night to watch for any accidents. In the past month, Kelley said there has been one minor crash with no injuries and over the last few months there have been no major crashes.

“I really think people are grateful for it and that it’s working well,” Kelley said.

Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.