It may be a little soon yet to say the construction on Hwy. 17 is totally completed.

While all four lanes of traffic were open on Hwy. 17 at the border of Bryan and Chatham Counties late last week, the chances of lane closures over the next four to six weeks is likely, said Mark McKinnon, media relations manager for the Georgia Department of Transportation.

"Technically the project isn’t complete," McKinnon said of the road work, which has taken nearly four years to complete. "They’re still working on what we call the ‘punch list.’"

McKinnon said the punch list is a list of housekeeping items that are to be completed in the final stages of a road project before it can be officially deemed complete.

"They have some shoulder closures, are doing some striping and are working on turn lanes," he said. "But the lanes are open to traffic."

McKinnon said the opened lanes could be closed temporarily during some of the punch list work, but he said those closures should be temporary.

"They’ll try to get lanes open and do work on the side of the road and they may have to close one lane, but (the lanes) are generally open to traffic."

Bryan County Administrator Phil Jones said last week one of the reasons the construction has taken so long is the fact that the project involved two separate counties. He said he is hopeful that the mechanics of the project will serve to help the DOT in future projects involving multiple counties.