Construction crews will be spending all summer and part of the fall redoing Highway 29 over Mount St. Helena, and the work is making the drive along the twisting route even more dangerous.

Caltrans initially indicated the $5 million project would last only three weeks but now says the work is expected to wrap up by the end of September.

Crews for now are working 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Friday digging out 67,000 square yards of severely damaged sections of pavement and replacing them with new asphalt. The entire road then is to get a final layer of new asphalt, Caltrans spokeswoman Traci Ruth said.

As part of the roadwork, crews grinded away most of the white edge lines and double-yellow center lines. Little yellow tabs have been put down to replace the double yellows in some spots, but they’re not really enough to help motorists stay in their lanes. It was common for drivers to stray over the center line before. Now, more drivers are having a harder time keeping within their lanes. Having driven over the road the last two weekends, the Road Warrior noticed drivers seem to have particular trouble on newly paved passing lanes and around some of the blind curves. So if you drive there, be extra alert. Caltrans does promise new striping once the final resurfacing is done.

During the work, one-way traffic control will be in effect, so traffic delays are likely.