On time and on budget.

The first phase of the William R. Bennett Bridge, the Campbell Road Interchange, is all but complete.

Westbank First Nation Chief, Robert Louie and Transportation Minister, Kevin Falcon, will preside over the official opening of the interchange Friday morning at 10 a.m.

"It's pretty much complete. I'd say everything is 98 or 99 per cent complete," says Mike Jacobs, President and CEO of Emil Anderson Construction.

"There's a little bit of landscape clean-up and a few little tidy-up issues, but there's three lanes now headed westbound toward Westbank and the overpass is complete and in full use, including the off and on ramps and the two landscaped round-a-bouts."

Jacobs says the only major work remaining is the transition area which will take traffic from the current bridge to the new bridge, which will be completed once the Bennett Bridge is open.

"Part of that road has to be raised up two metres for the permanent alignment onto the new bridge. Right now when you are coming from the Westside you have to dip down to get onto the old bridge, whereas when traffic is ready to go over the new bridge, you will stay at a higher elevation."

He says that work will take three or four days working around the clock.

The amount of construction along Bridge Hill has necessitated a number of lane re-configurations over the past several weeks.

Jacobs says, by and large, motorists have been very accommodating.

"Generally quite pleased with the traffic, but specifically, quite disappointed with a few drivers who ignore the rules of the road and ignore the construction zone speed limits and are downright ignorant."

The opening celebration for the new Bennett Bridge will take place Sunday, May 25, with traffic expected to start rolling along the new structure the following day.

Jacobs says everything he is hearing points to the bridge opening as scheduled.