The Alabama Department of Transportation begins opening the new Interstate 59/20 bridges at 9 p.m. Friday night, officials announced after the bridge dedication ceremony Friday afternoon.

The bridges will be open in both directions by 8 p.m. Sunday, weather permitting. (See the plans for Sunday, below, as there will be a detour to allow the final work to open all lanes.)

The Sunday evening opening means the project was completed in just two days short of one year. The contractor, Johnson Brothers Corp., was given a deadline of March 21, 2020, to have the bridges completed and open to traffic or face fines to the tune of $250,000 per day.

If the roadway opens as planned fully on Sunday, the contractor gets a $15 million bonus.

Crews have to adjust signs and stripes on the east and northbound lanes of the bridges before they open.

Weather permitting, here’s how the bridges open:

I-59 southbound and I-20 westbound should open to traffic at 9 p.m. Friday, January 17th.

I-59 northbound and I-20 eastbound should open to traffic Sunday, January 19 at 8 p.m.

On Sunday, ALDOT will close the I-59/20 northbound & I-20 eastbound lanes at the Arkadelphia exit to adjust signs and striping to its final location. The closure will last until about 8 p.m. when the I-59 northbound and I-20 eastbound bridges will be opened to traffic.

Traffic will be detoured onto Arkadelphia Road north to Finley Avenue east, then to Carraway south, back to I-59 north and I-20 east. Traffic to I-65 north and south can enter from Finley Avenue.

Traffic will be rerouted from Arkadelphia Road Sunday morning so crews can finish striping and lane shifts to prepare for the opening of the I-59/20 bridges through downtown. (ALDOT).

Motorists are encouraged to use I-459 north instead of I-59 north to I-65 north during this period.

Representatives from throughout the state, including Gov. Kay Ivey, attended Friday’s bridge dedication ceremony. ALDOT officials thanked the public, the media and local governments for working together to ensure the closure went as smoothly as possible.

Tad Snider, CEO of the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex, said the closure went as good as it could. He noted that the BJCC hosted a sold-out Metallica concert just two days after the bridges were closed in January 2019.

Multiple officials, including ALDOT East Central Regional Engineer DeJarvis Leonard, thanked Ivey for supporting the project.

Watch the full dedication ceremony and ribbon-cutting here: