There’s an end in sight for miles upon miles of roadwork on Interstate 695 — it’s just not coming this year. Or next. Or even the one after that.

The massive project spanning roughly 19 miles of the Baltimore Beltway to convert the inside shoulders into peak-hour travel lanes will fully open to the public in 2028, highway officials said Thursday.

The work was delayed in part by the high-speed crash that killed six construction workers two years ago on the Beltway near Security Boulevard. The tragedy stopped work on the project and prompted additional safety measures, including increasing the size of the buffer between workers and traffic in certain areas.

The project is happening now in two major phases. Officials said the western half from where the Beltway meets Interstate 70 to its interchange with Interstate 83 will be finished and opened to motorists by late summer 2027. The second phase, which continues to where the Beltway meets Interstate 95 east of the city, will wrap the following year.

Traffic on I-695, a perpetual sea of brake lights and construction, has only gotten worse since the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge broke the southeast side of the Beltway. The highway carries as many as 200,000 vehicles per day. Officials say this project is critical to relieve congestion as they expect that number to rise in the coming decades.

“The Beltway has been a traffic problem for a long time, but this is a solution that allows us to stay within the existing [highway] footprint” without having to widen it, State Highway Administrator Will Pines said. “Yes, there is a temporary impact with this project, but in the long term” it will be worth it, he said.

Once the project is complete, traffic management signs similar to those used on the Bay Bridge (think the red X’s and green arrows) will indicate when the shoulder can serve as an extra travel lane. Large, silver overhang poles that look like the letter “T” already stand in some sections.

Officials estimate the project could save motorists up to 21 minutes of travel time on the inner loop, which moves from west to east, and up to 34 minutes on the outer loop. It will address nine well-known bottlenecks, including six of the state’s 15 worst traffic choke points, Pines said.

Most highway shoulders are not designed for high speeds and continuous use, so workers are upgrading the pavement’s load-bearing capacity. They’re also relocating pipes and drainage for stormwater runoff.

Crews also will install a camera network that pings state highway teams about stalled vehicles or obstructions in the roadway to help them clear slowdowns faster. Officials emphasized that these are not speed cameras.

The state has used more speed cameras across the project zone since the deadly 2023 crash, one of Maryland’s most tragic incidents in a yearslong increase in roadway deaths. The two drivers involved were both traveling at more than 120 mph, which is more than twice the Beltway’s speed limit.

Dangerous speeding remains a problem, though — since more cameras went online, they’ve clocked multiple vehicles going faster than 130 mph, Pines said.

But the cameras are issuing fewer citations overall since the state implemented its tiered fine structure, which Pines said is a sign they’re deterring unsafe driving.

In January and February, work zone cameras across the state issued about 813 citations per day, including 23 for the new maximum of $1,000, which is issued for traveling 40 mph or more over the speed limit when workers are present. Previously, all automated speed camera citations were for $40 regardless of how fast the driver was traveling, which critics said did not deter people from speeding.

“People are reacting,” said Pines, adding that state data shows fewer repeat speed camera offenders on I-695.

Traffic on the Beltway is expected to grow to as many as 248,000 vehicles per day by 2044, according to state budget documents, a 24% increase from current levels.