Traffic will stop briefly on Interstate 985 Sunday so Jackson Electric Membership Corp. can string transmission lines across the road.

The work will take place at 7 a.m. in the southbound lanes at Exit 20 and northbound lanes at exits 16 and 17, said Teri Pope, spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Transportation's Gainesville office.

"The (power) line will go just north of milepost 17 over all of I-985," she added. "The traffic will be slowed and stopped just for five or six minutes ... and then traffic will be let go and that's all (of the interruption)."

On the southbound side of I-985, traffic will be slowed at the end of the Exit 20 entrance ramp.

On the northbound side, traffic will be slowed at Exit 12 and stopped near exits 16 and 17.

"This gives Jackson EMC an opening with no traffic to run their line," Pope said.

One vehicle will pace traffic through the work zone in both directions on the interstate, she added.

Bonnie Jones, spokeswoman for Jackson EMC, said the utility will spend about an hour on the project Sunday.

The work is part of an effort to build "a fiber ring" that connects the utility's offices in Jefferson, Gainesville, Oakwood, Lawrenceville and Hull.

The work is being done "to support communications for our business operations," she said.

Work began on the first section on Thompson Mill Road in 2008 and the project will be completed this fall, Jones said.