Drivers who rely on Niagara Falls Boulevard for their daily commute through Amherst or Tonawanda will face some delays for the next six weeks.

On Tuesday, the New York State Department of Transportation will begin traffic signal maintenance from Rochelle Place to Green Acres Road.

Drivers should expect lane closures from 7 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.

But while the roadwork might cause a temporary headache, it could be the start to a safer roadway.

"The pedestrians crossing the road have been the biggest problem so far,” said Patrick Lucey, the highway superintendent for the town of Amherst. “It will give people more time to cross the roads, hopefully alert traffic with either signage or road marks that pedestrians could be crossing and make people more aware as we're driving the vehicles that pedestrians could be crossing in front of them in the roadway."

Following six fatal pedestrian accidents in the last five years, a study was conducted to determine what makes the road so dangerous.

While the state will be making any improvements to the road, the Town of Amherst and Tonawanda will lighting up the sidewalks in the near future.

"We did receive grant money from New York State to put in some lighting along our eastern side of the boulevard here,” Lucey said. “Tonawanda will be doing the same thing on the western side of the Boulevard to illuminate the area between the 990 going north again where most of the problems with pedestrians have occurred."

The work could be delayed due to weather.

Drivers should follow the posted speed limit in work zones.

"It is going to cause some delays, it's going to be a little bit worse than it usually is but it will again hopefully these improvements will make it safer for our pedestrians to cross, without the fear of interfering with motor vehicles causing accidents," Lucey said.