Extra Lane Opens on I-540 in Fayetteville

"Any time you can increase capacity on the interstate system, it's going to help," says Jeff Stroud, engineer for the Arkansas State HIghway Department.

With orange barrels out of the way, an added lane appears.

"Where it will help is the people egressing and ingressing the interstate. That merging situation will be better," Stroud says.

An extra 12 feet for Fayetteville drivers.

The result of a $5.8 million-dollar makeover, completed 20 days ahead of schedule.

"The project had 75 working days set up on the project, they completed it in I think around 55 working days," Stroud says.

A task taken care of early. It's becoming a trend in the bidding war between contractors who hope to land jobs with the Arkansas highway dpeartment.

"They say to us, 'We can get that job done in X number of days,'" says Scott Munsell, spokesoman for the Arkansas State Highway Department in LIttle Rock. "They stay on time, they bring it in on schedule, there's an incentive, if they're late, there's a disincentive, so it's a real substantial motivator honestly for the contractor."

Stroud oversaw the I-540 project , which only covers about a mile and a half. He says meeting deadline -- much less beating it -- is rare.

"On smaller projects where you've got that little of time, it doesn't happen very often," Stroud says. "I hope the people see that we can do this efficiently and in a timely manner."

So thanks to crews working around the clock, there's a little more room to manuever on 540 in Fayetteville.

"We understand the population growth up there, so it's a major part of our future planning, and it's always going to be a focus for us," Munsell adds.