The university school year doesn’t start for nearly two weeks, but thousands of post-secondary students will nonetheless arrive in Waterloo this weekend.

First-year students will move in Sunday and Monday, in advance of a week of orientation activities.

It’s an annual ritual that makes for heavy traffic in the university district.

Congested roads could be even more of a problem this year, due to the amount of construction taking place in Waterloo Region.

With the Conestoga Parkway ramps at Northfield Drive closed, and parts of King Street inaccessible, city officials recommend parents and students stick to recommended directions.

“If they look for their own routes, they may run into a bit of trouble,” said Christopher Mulhern, Waterloo’s manager of compliance and standards.

Parts of Lester and Spruce streets will also be closed for the move-in.

Mulhern recommends that drivers coming in from out-of-town take the Conestoga Parkway to University Avenue, then head west to their destination.

For drivers who get lost, the city will be responding to pleas for help sent to its Twitter account.