The project to replace the southbound Fox Mill Run bridge on Main Street in Gloucester is almost complete, state transportation officials said Tuesday, with construction running about a month ahead of the original timeframe. The construction project began last fall.

At the present pace, construction is expected to be completed in early October, said Kelly Hannon, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Transportation. She cited favorable weather for the project’s being ahead of schedule.

All traffic has been sharing the two-lane northbound bridge since early this year. Next Wednesday, Sept. 5, one lane of the new span will accept southbound traffic, Hannon said, while one lane will be open on the northbound side.

Later in the month, all southbound traffic will travel southbound bridge, she said, with all northbound traffic once again using the northbound span.

The new bridge was necessary because the old southbound bridge, built in 1917, was “functionally obsolete” and not meeting modern bridge standards, Hannon said. The northbound bridge had been replaced within the past decade.

Bryant Contracting, Inc., of Toano is general contractor for the project. A VDOT traffic count showed approximately 19,000 vehicles a day travel over the bridge.

Hannon said sharing of the northbound bridge, carrying one lane of traffic northbound and one southbound, has worked pretty well.

The bridge project cost approximately $4 million, Hannon said.