These no parking signs went up on the Trans-Canada Highway near the construction site in New Haven. (Denis Calnan/CBC)

No parking signs have been installed along the Trans-Canada west of Charlottetown where the province has started construction to re-route the highway.

People opposed to the project believe the signs are there to make life more difficult to protestors, but the province said it is just an effort to keep people safe.

"Trans-Canada's a busy highway," said Kim Horrelt, director of infrastructure for the province.

"We've already said the turns on that highway are dangerous, sharp, the sight distances are poor and if you have people on the highway and traffic going at 90 kilometers an hour it can be dangerous, and so it was a safety precaution that we put that up."

Roy Johnstone was protesting at the construction site in New Haven Thursday. He said the province should have been doing a lot more for safety.

"To me they missed the boat totally. They should have been having pylons and flaggers if they were really concerned about safety," said Johnstone.

"To me it's more likely they were concerned about stopping the protesters."

Horrelt said the signs are not there to keep protestors away.

"No, I think everybody has a right to protest if they want to," she said.

"Our concern was for safety and that's the biggest issue there. And if they want to protest they're more than welcome to protest - just try to keep them safe."

Construction began Thursday and about 10 protestors turned up at the site. RCMP stopped work saying the work area needed perimeter fencing to keep protestors a safe distance from heavy equipment.

The province had installed fencing by Friday morning so work can continue. The protestors said they were caught by surprise by the start of work, and there will be a larger turnout Friday. At 7 a.m. there were about 20 protestors at the site.