It was almost 5:30 p.m. Wednesday and Yvonne Enck was regretting her timing.

Usually, the TMB clothing store manager doesn't leave work until after 5. On Wednesday, she got out a little earlier, then spent that time sitting in her car waiting to get out of the Prince Street Parking Garage.

"It takes me forever to get home," the Ephrata resident said. "Last year, it was (work on Route) 222. This year, it's this," she said of the single lane on the first block of West Orange Street.

Usually, it takes Enck about five minutes to exit the garage. On Wednesday, she was at 28 minutes before a fellow motorist on the backed-up street gave her a break.

The cause of the delay is a pit in the left lane of North Prince Street at the Orange Street intersection. PPL is putting in a new vault under the street. The work began this week and is expected to take until mid-July.

But the vault is only the beginning. As early as next week, UGI is slated to begin work on its utility lines at Queen and Chestnut streets. That will reduce North Queen Street to a single lane in that area.

Meanwhile, sewer and water main work is being done by contractors on behalf of Lancaster city.

All the utility work is in preparation for the long-sought resurfacing of North Prince Street, beginning in August, and the resurfacing of Queen Street next year.

As inconvenient as all this is to motorists, Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray insists it is part of a plan to have the repaved streets stay smooth as long as possible.

Gray said the city is trying to get utility companies to do the work in such a way that, once the streets are paved, "we don't have to be digging them up."

"It's called planning ahead," he added.

And, according to Tom Matthews, executive director of the Lancaster Parking Authority, it could be worse.

"It's been much better than anticipated," Matthews said.

"We expected super-terrible delays, because the traffic on Prince Street is heavy every night," he said. During recent evening rush hours, he has seen courteous drivers allowing motorists to exit the parking garage.

It has been more difficult to get out of the garage on the Orange Street side, he acknowledged.

Matthews, whose office is in the ground floor of the Prince Street garage, is at ground-zero for the gridlock. Some 1,000 motorists park in the garage each weekday. Most of those are contract parkers who pay a monthly fee to use the garage and are less likely to park elsewhere during the roadwork.

Matthews said the expectation for exiting the garage during rush hour was 15-30 minutes while the roadwork is being done.

He believes most people are being patient. They were warned to expect a delay, he said.

Notices were distributed to contract parkers, and the work was announced through the Downtown Investment District newsletter, the media, on the city's website and through e-mail to downtown businesses.

In conjunction with the repaving, which will be done by a contractor for PennDOT, contractors for the city will do streetscape improvements this summer. Work last summer included brick crosswalks at downtown intersections, which caused a lot of delay.

"It never gets easier," said city Public Works Director Charlotte Katzenmoyer. "Having experienced it last year, I don't think it gets easier, but I think people are understanding of the long-term improvements that we are bringing to downtown."

bharris@lnpnews.com