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CONCORD, N.C. -- The widening of seven miles of Interstate 85 in Cabarrus County is almost finished.

Weather permitting, eight lanes of traffic will be open from George W. Liles Parkway to just south of the Interstate 485 interchange by late February.

Then in April the traffic will flow on eight lanes from the George W. Liles Parkway to N.C. 73.

“It has been a long time coming,” said Davis Diggs, the N.C. Department of Transportation engineer who oversees the project and others in Cabarrus and Stanly counties

Diggs said the entire project, including the I-485 interchange and the new section of I-485, which will complete the 60-mile loop around Charlotte, are also still on track to be completed in December of this year.

But in the next few months, “the biggest and best change is going to be getting traffic open on 85,” Diggs said. “In general, there will be four lanes open in either direction.”

Motorists may have already noticed the end of the project nearing. Crews have already removed many of the concrete barriers. The fresh pavement is visible from the two small lanes vehicles have been using to squeeze through Cabarrus County’s road construction zone.