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Officials expect the work to finish May 1.

Millovitsch said based on road conditions, the work could extend to the Flanders Four Corners intersection.

Drivers are asked to reduce speed in the work zone, which is part of the effort to widen Flanders, also known as Route 161. Crews have already widened part of Route 161, from Industrial Park Road to King Arthur Drive. Drivers are advised that the work, which will raise the height of the road about two feet in some locations, will be done at night.

Route 161 northbound will eventually be joined with a new road, New Frontage Road, in front of Cash True Value Home Center, with a new four-lane approach consisting of two exclusive left-turn lanes and two through lanes. The southbound approach to this intersection will consist of two through lanes and exclusive turn lanes, according to state information.

In order to widen 161, the I-95 bridges over the road must be replaced. The northbound side of the bridge was recently demolished, work that temporarily closed Route 161.

Crews Thursday were working outside Daddy's Noodle Bar, which is getting its own signal directing drivers onto Flanders Road.

This is all part of the third of four stages in a project meant to make travel safer between Exits 74 and 75, an area with a high number of traffic accidents and 80,000 drivers a day, said project Resident Engineer Robert Obey. Recently concrete barriers were installed to guide drivers into two, 11-foot-wide lanes with 1-foot shoulders compared to the typical 12-foot travel lanes with 3- to 4-foot shoulders, a configuration that will last a while longer.

Between the north and southbound lanes crews are readying the highway for another upcoming change, when southbound traffic will shift to what is now the median from the Route 1 overpass to a location beyond Costco.

Obey said one of the biggest improvements, which comes later in the project, is a new dedicated right-turn lane onto a new Exit 74 northbound on-ramp, eliminating the need for Flanders commuters traveling southbound to take the hairpin left turn onto I-95 north near Starbucks, Obey says. That configuration severely backs up Flanders Road.

That new on-ramp will curve around a new commuter lot, Obey said, and will neighbor the new northbound off-ramp that lands drivers in front of the Flanders Road Burger King.

Obey said the main goal of the project is improving visibility and sightlines. To that end, the height on the south side of the bridge will be raised 14 feet and on the north side, it's dropping 10 feet. Obey said the changes to the highway are some of the most significant of his 35-year career.

The project cost has risen from the original estimate of $150 million, after officials needed more supplies than expected, Millovitsch said. He added it's "amazing" that after two years the large project has only increased in cost by $6 million.

"More than a construction job"

Obey said any major roadway or highway project requires balancing public safety and inconvenience.

"None of it matters if there's a major accident or a fatality," Obey said. "Our job is always to make sure we're operating in the safest way."

"It's not just a construction job," he added. "My wife goes to Costco, our friends and families use these roads. That's why it's important to us."

And sometimes a project requires traffic control measures that may irk drivers. That's why, Millovitsch said, these projects need some cultural engineering, too.

"We're in the Northeast, everyone hustles and bustles," he said, pointing out that when the project started, both cars and trucks often flew by workers on the highway at 80 miles per hour.

Officials piloted an enforcement program last year that significantly reduced speeding.

Obey said the number of people who signed up for updates and alerts about the project, 22,000, surprised him.

"It caught us off-guard how involved people were," he said.