Extending HOV lanes along Interstate 45 has taken officials much longer than anticipated, but the end is in sight and carpools and buses could be riding in the lanes before Labor Day, officials said.

Crews are putting the finishing touches on the 16-mile extension of I-45 HOV lanes from Spring to Conroe, with transportation officials hopeful the lane in each direction will open by the end of August.

The opening is about two months later than officials anticipated earlier this year, said Deidrea George, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Transportation’s Houston office. Initially, officials planned to open the lanes by June 1.

“There was a signage issue,” George said Wednesday. “When we were getting closer to (opening), the sign had to be re-manufactured.”

The structures of the signs were also an issue, George said, as a nearby bridge blocked visibility of an overhead sign. The entire sign and structure were moved north.

Workers also still need to paint the lane markings and diamond symbol denoting an HOV lane, George said. Provided they can stripe two miles of the lanes each day, it will take eight or nine days to paint lines on each side of the freeway. Once one of the directions is striped, that side will open and crews will paint the other side.

The department had said in mid-2014 that it hoped to finish work by the end of the following year, and earlier plans to designate High Occupancy Vehicle lanes in the middle of an 18-mile-long stretch were delayed by funding and other issues.

The extension, from FM 1960 to Loop 336, adds one HOV lane in each direction from the Spring area to Conroe, one of the busiest parts of the suburban freeway.

With the extension, I-45 will have 35 miles of continuous HOV lanes north of downtown, and 14 miles south of downtown to Dixie Farm Road. Metropolitan Transit Authority operates the lanes as HOT lanes, allowing toll-paying solo drivers into the lanes during non-peak times.

The northern extension will be HOV and not include a toll option. Solo commuters will still access the lanes via FM 1960 and other ramps, Metro spokesman Jerome Gray said.

“It is a long-awaited project,” said Evan Besong, a precinct manager for Montgomery County Commissioner James Noack, who represents the southern Montgomery County area.

More than 240,000 vehicles use I-45 just north of the Harris County line, according to 2014 TxDOT traffic counts, though volumes decline significantly northward. North of Loop 336, the freeway handles less than 100,000 vehicles daily.

Besong said the delay hasn’t led to drivers calling into the office to complain, though questions about the opening come up occasionally at community meetings.

“We hear feedback that they can’t wait for it to open,” Besong said.