After more than a year of dealing with orange cones and construction vehicles, drivers will soon have an open road as they trek from Enumclaw and Buckley to Bonney Lake and points west on state Route 410.

All indications are Washington State Department of Transportation crews will soon open all four lanes of the busy highway.

"We're looking right now at Thursday (Sept. 1)," Project Engineer Dennis Engel said.

Engel said the work that still needs to be completed includes getting the new traffic light at the rebuilt 234th Avenue East intersection online and getting street lights operating.

But the largest project to still be completed is the addition of plastic lane markers and other striping to the road surface.

Lines can be painted on asphalt right away, Engel said, but the final plastic-based lines must wait until at least 21 days after the asphalt is laid. He said the new road surface passed that threshold Monday and WSDOT was slated to put down the final lines.

After that, Engel said there will still be workers on site finishing some minor work on landscaping, slopes and some electrical, but the roadway itself should be open to traffic.

An official ribbon cutting is planned for Sept. 1.

Work on the $20.5 million project to widen the nearly 1.5-mile stretch of SR 410 began in March 2010. Work was suspended in January due to consistently soggy weather and resumed in June.

For more information, visit http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR410/234thLanes/default.htm.

Comment on this story.

COMMENTING RULES: We encourage an open exchange of ideas in our online community, but we ask you to follow our guidelines for respecting community standards. In a nutshell, don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother to read. Please see our FAQ if you have questions or concerns about using Facebook to comment.