All lanes of traffic at the Interstate 95’s exit 87 interchange in Richmond Hill could be back open as soon as Friday, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Work crews are wrapping up their repairs to the damaged I-95 overpass and, weather permitting, all lanes of the interstate and Highway 17 should reopen Friday or Saturday, GDOT District Communications Officer Jill Nagel said.

“They should be out of there at the end of the week if the weather cooperates,” Nagel said. “When I say out of there, I mean everything gone and everything open.”

Once the workers finish the project and move out their equipment, all lanes of I-95 and Highway 17 will be open for the first time in nearly four months.

“That’ll make a lot of people happy,” Nagel said.

The right lane of Highway 17 North has been closed since the I-95 overpass was hit by a tractor-trailer July 2. Nine support beams were damaged when an excavator that was loaded on the truck’s flatbed trailer became wedged underneath the bridge.

The left lane of Highway 17 north also was shut down once the repairs began, and one southbound lane was converted to northbound. Meanwhile, lanes intermittently were closed on I-95 as workers replaced seven of the damaged beams and repaired the other two.

The remaining work to the overpass is minor, Nagel said, such as striping the sections of I-95 where the repairs were done.

Also, a concrete median on Highway 17 is being rebuilt after sections of it were removed to make navigating the traffic shift easier.

The contractor, L.C. Whitford of Alpharetta, was given 30 days to complete the $1.4 million project. However, crews have worked in shifts “around the clock,” Nagel said, to finish in less time.