The installation of right and left turn lanes at the Heartland Industrial Business Park in Keysville are now complete, according to VDOT’s Lynchburg District Communications Manager Paula Jones.

“The project is complete ahead of schedule and likely under budget pending final billing and reconciliation,” said Jones.

She said the construction was done by state forces, not a contractor.

Jones said work on the project originally started Aug. 20 and the last of the plant mix was completed Aug. 29.

Jones previously said the project was originally submitted in round one as a SMART SCALE project with a projected cost of $771,497.

“Since that time, VDOT, in consultation with the county, has streamlined the original project to provide a scaled back, less costly version of the project that focuses on safety improvements that meet current needs, while providing components that could be incorporated into future improvements,” said Jones previously. “These changes will allow this project to be completed sooner and at a saving of approximately $600,000.”

VDOT advertised their willingness to hold a public hearing concerning the matter, in which written requests were due June 20.

VDOT Resident Engineer Scot Shippee said the plan set is available from the District for review. “If we need to go further than that we can,” he said. “It’s just typically a lot cleaner to do it this way on these smaller projects.”

One of the reasons for going with the willingness portion was to try and accelerate the project.

“That’s actually one we’re gonna build with state forces at a considerable savings over the initial project cost,” said Shippee. “We can certainly do whatever we need to there.”

However, Jones said “one request for a public hearing was received, however, that request was rescinded once the requester had an opportunity to talk with (the) project manager about the design.”

According to the SMART Scale website, the SMART SCALE funding is geared toward making sure tax dollars are invested in critical transportation needs.

The Heartland Business Park in Keysville is a 773 acre regional business park with industrial zoning classification.

The park hopes to attract future businesses to the area.