In the last month, Fayetteville drivers have seen the skeleton of the Fulbright Expressway flyover go up.
Contractors were planning to be done with the construction in May 2014, but may now be ahead of schedule, if the weather permits.
"They’ve beat that schedule really by a couple of months," City Engineer Chris Brown, said. "Originally the concrete deck wasn’t going to be poured until next spring, now if the weather will cooperate, it looks like they can have the deck poured by the end of the year. That doesn’t mean the bridge will be opened, there’s still more work to do."
Brown said that there are no incentives built into the contract for the contractors to finish early.
Mayor Lioneld Jordan said that the city has been planning to build the flyover for almost a decade.
Right now, a driver wanting to access the Fulbright Expressway to get on Interstate 540 from northbound College Avenue, must drive to the intersection at Joyce Boulevard and make a u-turn.
"Left turns are just inefficient and we have to allow a lot of left-turn signal time at that intersection for drivers to get on the expressway," Brown said.
When the flyover is finished, drivers will be able to access the expressway from College Avenue without the u-turn.
The project is expected to cost around $7.7 million, with 80% being federally funded.