After years of waiting, progress on the Greenville Street bridge is finally beginning to move forward, but the completed bridge likely won’t open until late next year, according to information from the Georgia Department of Transportation.

On Friday, cranes could be seen at the bridge’s location aiding with the demolition stage of the project. The bridge was officially closed in February 2016, and it has been closed ever since.

“They are still doing the demolition of the existing bridge,” said Penny Brooks, the GDOT district communications coordinator for the west central region. 

“They started that on Nov. 11, and it will probably take until after Christmas until it is complete.”

The bridge project was awarded an $8.9 million construction contract in July, and C. W. Matthews Contracting Company is the contractor for the project.  The bridge goes over CSX Railroad, which means that the project has required coordination with the railroad for safety and traffic.

“[The contractor] has two cranes there helping with the removal of the remainder of the bridge, the debris,” Brooks said. 

Brooks said that some details of the bridge plan still need to be finalized, but the contract specifies that the bridge should be complete by November 2019, barring unforeseen circumstances.