Gwinnett Daily Post

Photo by Kristen Ralph

LAWRENCEVILLE -- Drivers on Interstate 85 have seen signs of a bridge coming soon over the highway.

On Tuesday, work will begin to allow the bridge to cross.

"We are building a new bridge to take McGinnis Ferry over the interstate," DOT District Construction Engineer Randall Davis said. "You can see parts of the bridge now along the sides of the interstate."

Some of the most complicated work of the stimulus project to extend McGinnis Ferry from Satellite Boulevard to Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road will be to build a bridge over the interstate with as little affect on traffic as possible.

To do that, crews will begin paving the shoulders of the interstate Tuesday, so traffic can be diverted away from the median, giving crews more room to work there on the support structure for the bridge.

For the work, crews will close the outside or right lane of I-85 for 2,000 feet just below where the overpass will go. Northbound, the outside lane will close from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., and crews will work on the southbound outside lane beginning at 11 a.m.

On Wednesday, crews will work on the shoulders of the interstate, which will be closed to traffic.

According to a press release, the $20.4 million project is 24 percent complete. It is on schedule to be finished by Sept. 30, 2011.