Traffic could be moving easier at a key Gainesville intersection by early 2023.

A project calling for new left-turn lanes on Prior Street on either side of Jesse Jewell Parkway/Ga. 369, near Longstreet Clinic, could be finished by the end of this year, according to the city.

The project has been in the works since 2021.

“We were delayed due to some supply chain issues, specifically with some pipe and the mast arms (for traffic signals),” said Chris Rotalsky, Gainesville public works director at a recent transportation planning meeting with area government officials.

“The mast arms are installed and we’re working on wiring for signals and completing some stormwater and sidewalk improvements,” he said.

The project also calls for adding left-turn signals to the intersection, which is also east of E.E. Butler Parkway.

“The project was identified in the city’s Transportation Master Plan to improve safety while helping with congestion at the intersection,” Matt Tarver, Gainesville’s deputy director of engineering and transportation, said in an interview last year.

The project will cost $600,000, with $375,000 coming from the Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank, a state grant and low-interest loan program.

It is one of several projects meant to ease traffic congestion on busy Jesse Jewell.

The biggest one is a $1.6 million makeover in 2021 of Jesse Jewell Parkway at Queen City Parkway/John W. Morrow Jr. Parkway.

Also, an extension of the eastbound right-turn lane on Jesse Jewell at E.E. Butler Parkway has been completed. “That’s helping to improve that intersection as well,” Rotalsky has said.