Construction on State Road 66 around Newburgh will begin sometime around Memorial Day. The second phase of the road-widening project is scheduled for completion at the end of 2009.

On April 4, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) announced that Blankenburger Brothers of Cynthiana had submitted the winning bid of $19.2 million for the 3.1-mile project. That is more than $2 million more than INDOT's original estimate.

"They will begin work on the new lanes first," said INDOT spokesperson Cher Goodwin. "Once those are complete next summer, they will transition the traffic to the new lanes and reconstruct the existing lanes."

The Major Moves project on State Road 66 begins just east of State Road 261 to State Road 662 (French Island Trail). Before construction can begin, utility companies are required to relocate their lines and that work should be complete by the end of May. Contractor's crews will also be clearing the right-of-way as weather allows.

It is anticipated major construction, such as dirt work, will begin after the Memorial Day holiday. The anticipated overall project completion date is December 2009. Motorists will have minimal delays during the 2008 construction season.

"There may be times when they have to offload materials or they work close to the edge of the pavement," said Goodwin. "But as far as lane restrictions, it will be very minimal this year."

There are planned signal modernizations at Casey Road and Sharon Road, which both currently have stoplights. New flasher signals will be installed at Lincoln Avenue and Old State Road 662.

"They haven't talked yet about how they will handle the construction of those intersections," said Goodwin. "But at some point, we will have some minor inconveniences at those intersections."

The new roadway construction will begin to the south of the current roadway, but will change over to the north as it progresses to the east.

"It will, at some point, come into alignment with the existing pavement," said Goodwin. "So they will tie it in with the existing road, and then build the other set of new road on the north side. That way, we're able to keep traffic flowing as much as possible."

Goodwin said three or four structures had to be razed to make way for the new road, but all of those were demolished several months ago.

The State Road 66 project will eventually widen the highway from Evansville to Hatfield. The first stage was completed two years ago, and the final -- and most expensive -- stage is scheduled to begin in 2009.