Fairgrounds Road is now open for traffic.

The city of Langley quietly opened the road that connects Al Anderson Avenue and Langley Road after roughly a year of construction, said Kathleen Landel, special assistant to the mayor.

The new road is designed to help with the traffic load stemming from Langley’s largest development to date, The Highlands, and traffic from future development.

After a legal battle between the city, Island County, the owners of the fairgrounds, and the county fair board over an easement to get the road built that stretched more than 18 months, construction started in late summer of last year.

But the controversy surrounding the road continued.

While the road was under construction, the fair board complained that the city had made changes to the approved design and the county and city again reworked plans causing more delays. Then a wet early summer delayed construction further.

The contractor wrapped up all major work before the Island County Fair last month, but the city decided to wait to open the road until after the four-day event.