Next week, drivers will have the first chance to use a stretch of the future Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway.

According to the Arizona Department of Transportation, both directions of Pecos Road traffic from 17th Avenue to an area west of Desert Foothills Parkway will be diverted onto the freeway’s future eastbound lanes by 5 a.m. on Feb. 11.

In both directions, the 2-mile stretch will be reduced one lane. In order to make room for construction, traffic on 17th Avenue south of Cottonwood Lane will also be reduced to one lane in each direction.

When crews set up for the shift starting at 10 p.m. on Friday, Pecos Road will be closed between 17th Avenue and 24th Street.

Crews will finalize construction of the 17th Avenue interchange and begin building the Desert Foothills Parkway interchange during the late shift, the last interchange of the South Mountain Freeway project to begin construction.

Pecos Road will be permanently closed and turned into a 6-mile shared-use path once all traffic is shifted to the freeway.

The South Mountain Freeway will pick up where the Loop 202 currently ends at Interstate 10 in Chandler and reconnect with I-10 at 59th Avenue in west Phoenix.

The projected completion date of the project is by the end of the year.

As many as 190,000 vehicles will use the route daily by 2035, according to the ADOT.

Information about road closures due to construction can be found on ADOT’s website.