Local commuting frustrations started to simmer last week as a major construction project on East Gun Hill Road caused an exit closure and increased traffic congestion.

On March 9, the southbound East Gun Hill Road exit from the Bronx River Parkway was closed, and will remain so for the next three years, to accommodate the reconstruction of a bridge over the Williams Bridge Metro North station. Signs on the parkway advise drivers to take the earlier exit at 233rd Street, and then continue on to Gun Hill via Webster, Bainbridge or Jerome avenues.

“There will be some inconveniences,” said Ali Mallick, an engineer at the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT), which commissioned the construction. “We are working with everyone to make sure traffic moves smoothly.”

DOT is reconstructing the Gun Hill bridge, spanning Webster Avenue to Bronx Boulevard, due to excessive age and weathering. Sections of the bridge will be demolished beginning in April. While DOT originally stated that one of the road’s five lanes would be closed, Mallick said that a fifth lane was created by narrowing a sidewalk.

“Luckily the sidewalk was wide enough,” said Mallick, who oversees road bridges at DOT. “There is no reduction of the traffic capacity on the bridge itself. This is not going to increase traffic problems.”

But many drivers insist they feel squeezed. “Forget about it, there’s so much traffic,” said Joe Kandic, manager of Joseph’s Pizza on East Gun Hill and Perry Avenue.

Kandic commutes from Yonkers every day, and now exits the Parkway at 233rd Street or Allerton Avenue to pick up supplies from White Plains Road. He then crosses the bridge to get to his shop. “I have to leave the house 45 minutes to an hour earlier every morning,” said Kandic, 36.

DOT has installed concrete barriers, chain link fences, and electronic signs along Gun Hill to keep drivers and pedestrians safe. Mallick said that DOT will also deploy transit police to guide traffic, but only if it is deemed necessary.

Kandic thinks it is. “Everyone is trying to cut you off,” he said. “They are rolling down their windows and cursing at you.”

DOT installed a traffic light at the 233rd exit last month to manage traffic flow. Drivers can make a right on red at the light, which Mallick said has eased congestion. “I was there this morning, and I didn’t find any traffic,” Mallick said. “People were coming out [of the exit] easily.”

But drivers have experienced delays. “It doesn’t matter which way you take … it’s all going to lead to traffic,” said Crysta Jones, a Montefiore Medical Center employee who lives in Westchester. Jones reported at least 20-minute delays last week after exiting either the Parkway or the Major Deegan Expressway at 233rd Street.

Those who continue on to Gun Hill via Bainbridge and Jerome avenues hit another series of blockages. Construc-tion materials for renovating the Woodlawn No. 4 subway station, where Bainbridge and Jerome meet south of 233rd Street, are stored in the road and block part of it. While work was already supposed to have been completed, construction will continue through October, according to James Anyansi, an MTA spokesperson.

To make matters worse, three Westchester express buses stop at the Woodlawn station. The stops were temporarily relocated a few feet north to accommodate the transit work, but they will be moved back soon.

“We think [the stop] is safer where it is now, but it’s a DOT decision,” Anyansi said. The temporary spot is near the entrance of the Mosholu Golf Course in Van Cortlandt Park, where traffic from the filtration plant construction will go in and out.

Mallick was not aware of the bus stop issue, but said that DOT is in communication with MTA. “They have to coordinate with us,” he said.

Drivers are finding ways to cope. “I’m plotting an alternative route,” said Jones, who wouldn’t reveal the specifics for fear others would copy her.

Council Member Oliver Koppell said he has sent staff to study the construction. Koppell promised to continue monitoring the situation, but said that there wasn’t much he could do to rectify it.

Kandic had an idea — speed up the construction. “I’ve taken this exit every day for 10 years,” he said. “I need my car. I don’t know what to do.”