Gov. Bev Perdue will be in Rowan County on Thursday to announce the opening of the new I-85 Yadkin River Bridge.
A press release issued by the governor’s office said Perdue will make the announcement at 10 a.m. on Jacobs Lambe Lane near the construction site.
The governor will announce tomorrow when traffic will shift to the new bridge. A Department of Transportation spokeswoman said last month that would take place in early May.
The new Interstate 85 crossing over the Yadkin is two bridges. The four-lane northbound bridge will be opened to northbound traffic this month. In July, two lanes of that bridge will begin carrying southbound traffic and the existing bridges be closed.
The four-lane southbound bridge is scheduled to open in January 2013, according to the Transportation Department’s schedule.
Replacing the 57-year-old I-85 bridge over the Yadkin River is part of a $201.5 million project to realign and widen 7 miles of the interstate in Rowan and Davidson counties and replace a number of bridges along the route.