photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Motorists going to the polls, to work or anywhere else were facing traffic jams through North Lawrence on Tuesday morning.

As of about 8 a.m. on Tuesday, southbound traffic was backed up from the Kansas River bridge in downtown to past the Interstate 70 overpass in North Lawrence. The nearly 1.5 mile backup of traffic was caused by construction work that is happening on the south end of the Kansas River bridges near Sixth and Vermont streets in downtown Lawrence. Construction crews were paving some of the final sections of the road on Tuesday morning.

The area remained open for traffic, but motorists were experiencing longer than normal delays.