NATCHEZ &8212; The obstacle course of orange barrels and dust at Liberty Road and Seargent S. Prentiss Drive has reached its halfway point.

Construction to create a smoother, more aesthetic intersection and repair aging bridges began September 2005 and should be finished September 2007, Mississippi Department of Transportation Project Engineer Nellie Wimberly said.

The roadwork is part of an MDOT project to create a gateway to the Natchez Trace. The Trace extension project &8212; bringing the Nashville to Natchez parkway closer to downtown Natchez &8212; was completed last year.

The project is making good headway, Wimberly said. Right now, contractors are drilling holes for concrete to supports for the bridge that will go over Liberty Road. The old bridges &8212; since torn down &8212; were built in the 1950s and needed work, Wimberly said.

&8220;You should see some above-ground progress by Thanksgiving,&8221; Wimberly said. &8220;Drilling should be done in the next three weeks, and the footing, the bases of the bridge, should be finished by Christmas.&8221;

The highway bridge crossing Liberty Road will have four lanes and two turn lanes, she said, all of which should make traffic run more smoothly. The intersection will be a partial cloverleaf, with two &8220;leaves&8221; onto and off of the highway.

Wimberly said she thought the completed project would make downtown Natchez more accessible.

Funding for the $18.5 million project comes mostly from the federal government. Only 20 percent of the money used for the project comes from the state in the form of fuel taxes and some permit and tag registration fees, she said. So far, $6.9 million has been spent on the project.

Contractors have faced some challenges finding affordable building materials, Wimberly said.

&8220;The materials&8217; demand and price have gone up, especially reinforcing steel,&8221; she said. &8220;A lot of it is going to the coast to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.&8221;