Traffic jams, a chorus of jackhammers and long pauses in 90-degree weather await drivers traveling on Grand Avenue this summer.

On Monday a six-week road construction project will begin on Grand Avenue between Fifth and Sixth streets.

Grand Avenue will be narrowed to one lane in each direction between the Main Street underpass and Seventh Street.

The purpose of the project is to create a left turn lane on Grand Avenue between Fifth and Sixth streets for northbound traffic wanting to turn left on Sixth Street, said Ed Kray, senior engineering technician for the City of Ames.

In addition, new traffic signals will be installed at the Sixth Street and Grand Avenue intersection.

In an effort to add a turning lane to the Fifth Street and Grand Avenue intersection, turning lanes will be closed periodically in the construction zone.

The road construction will result in bumper-to-bumper traffic throughout the month of April and will continue into May and June, Kray said.

“The traffic will be comparable to the summer of 2001, when Lincoln Way became a one-lane road due to construction work,” he said. “The difference is that this [construction] project won’t last as long.”

After the construction wraps up, more road construction will take place along Sixth Street — from Grand Avenue to Duff Avenue — and along Clark Avenue from Fifth to Ninth streets.

The recent construction is a result of the city’s efforts to modernize its road system, said Edward Kannel, professor of civil and construction engineering.

“The City of Ames is laid out in the traditional system of 150 years ago, where the railroad tracks are near the major roadway,” he said. “The problem is that this particular [road] layout doesn’t handle modern traffic volumes very well.”

The current traffic problems are a byproduct of a century-old road design trying to fit into the modern traffic system, Kannel said. Archaic road layouts coupled with heavy traffic volumes create difficult construction projects, he said.

“I don’t envy anyone who’s working on that operation,” Kannel said.