VIDALIA — Drivers on the Ferriday-Vidalia Highway won’t be bottlenecked into one lane for much longer.

For the last couple of weeks, drivers have had to contend with a road construction project on U.S. 84 that has pushed traffic into one lane and lowered the speed limit to 45 miles per hour from Airport Road to Ferriday.

The construction is a part of routine highway maintenance, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development District 58 Engineer Administrator Ricky Moon said.

The construction is a concrete patching and joint sealing project.

The seals are placed between the concrete patches to keep water from getting under the pavement.

“They are almost finished with the patching, and then they will need another day or two on the joint seal,” Moon said.

When the crews are finished with the patching and sealing, they will also do some work on the shoulder of the road.

“What is probably going to happen is in the next day or so they will finish the joint sealing up and will open two lanes to traffic,” Moon said.

When the shoulder work begins, however, traffic will once again be pushed back into one lane.

The construction crews are ahead of schedule for the project, and Moon said he believes there are only 10 days of work left on the highway, depending on the weather.

“They have a 75-day contract, but they will finish quite a bit earlier,” Moon said.

Forby Contracting Inc., of Hinckley, Minn., is completing the project.