The Georgia Department of Transportation says a burned out portion of I-85 at Piedmont Road will reopen sooner than expected.

On May 1, transportation officials said the projected opening date is May 25, nearly a month ahead of schedule.

“Our goal was to get I-85 back open to the people of Georgia as quickly as we could, and to do so we offered incentives for early completion,” Georgia DOT Commissioner Russell McMurry said in a press release. “If work is able to continue at the rate it’s been going, I have no doubt project contractor C.W. Matthews will be able to meet, if not beat, the May 25 incentive date.”

The contractor will get a $1.5 million bonus if the project is finished by May 25, and a $2 million bonus if it’s finished by May 21, and $200,000 for each day completed before May 21, bringing the maximum potential bonus to $3.1 million. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported the cost estimate for the entire project is $16.6 million.

GDOT says it has poured four out of six decks since April 25 and the northbound travel lanes are finished. Once all of the decks are finished and in place for three days, the contractor will pour the concrete barrier sides. Then “grinding and grooving of the roadway surface for enhanced safety” will start. Joints will be sealed and the road will be striped.

“In an effort to plan ahead and to minimize further disruptions to the traveling public, the much needed resurfacing of 6.6 miles of I-85 from I-75 to Clairmont Road began on April 20,” the press release from GDOT says. “The milling and inlay of two paving layers on the northbound side within the closure and is nearly complete. Within the southbound closure, three of the five to six lanes have had the top two layers milled and inlayed. The resurfacing work within the rebuild closure has the potential to be completed by the time the I-85 bridge reopens.”