The State Route 179 road construction project is picking up steam with an anticipated completion date scheduled for either May or June.

Last week, the Arizona Department of Transportation opened the bridge over Oak Creek near Tlaquepaque and rerouted traffic in both directions onto the bridge.

Debbie Picard, of Southwestern Asphalt Paving out of Phoenix, said opening the bridge was a monumental step in bringing the project closer to completion.

She said it seemed to take a while to get to this point, but added it happened right on schedule.

“It took years of restless [nights] to get this far,” she said.

As Picard directed traffic onto the bridge Dec. 22, she could not stop talking about the importance of this portion being completed.

“Of course it’s exciting,” she said.

Opening the bridge for both lanes of traffic was necessary because ADOT will blow up the other side of the bridge next week so it can construct a new one.

Picard said it will take an entire week to demolish the old bridge and about three months to create the new bridge. She said constructing the other side of the bridge is the biggest remaining portion for the SR 179 project.

“The old bridge has to come down to construct a new bridge,” she said, mentioning this will begin happening the morning of Monday, Jan. 4.

ADOT workers have installed barriers to separate the bridge from where traffic will be flowing and from where they will work.

Picard said the barriers will help ADOT work uninterrupted while adding much more safety for everyone.

Another important aspect to the bridge being opened is there will be no delays at all for motorists traveling this area.

“It opens the area for new activities to take place at the same time,” she said.

After the bridge is completed, Mother Nature will play a role in deciding how quickly the project is completed.

Picard said rubberized asphalt will be placed into the roadway, but the work cannot begin until ADOT is sure the weather conditions on the asphalt are no lower than 85 degrees in order to cure the new pavement.

ADOT hopes the paving can begin in April and be completed in May.

Carl Burkhalter, Project 179 manager for ADOT, said while waiting for the spring, ADOT still has a lot of work to do in installing the walls as well as the bridge. He added ADOT is also working on the landscaping portion for the project.