Motorists now can pick up the pace legally on Interstate 985’s northbound lanes at exits 16 and 17.

Work on the two-lanes stretch, which had been tied up as construction zone for three years, has been essentially completed, said Teri Pope, a Georgia Department of Transportation spokeswoman.

Signs telling drivers to slow to 50 mph, then allowing them to speed up to 60 mph and finally 70 mph, have been replaced by signs limiting speed at 70 mph.

“We’ll be having a few lane closures to finish the shoulder and median work,” Pope said. “(Then), the speed limit will be lowered by signs that are portable.”

The same isn’t true, however, on southbound lanes in the area, where work is ongoing.

The entire $75 million project, which has featured building a new interchange, widening connecting roads and building a leg of the four-lane Thurmon Tanner Parkway, may be finished in four to six weeks, Pope said.