It’s been more than two years coming, but now the widening of Barrett Parkway in Cobb County is just about finished. No one seems happier about that than the people who make their living along that stretch of road.

At one point, rush hour meant spending as much as 30-minutes driving less than five miles along Ernest Barrett Parkway between Hwy. 41 and Dallas Highway in Cobb County. Traffic studies showed the situation would only get worse. Cobb County Project Manager Mike Wright told WSB’s Pete Combs a study completed in 2008 showed, without improvement, that stretch of road would have been gridlocked.

With that in mind, Wright and his team embarked on a $21 million construction project that has lasted more than two years, widening Barrett from four lanes to six.

“We’re finishing everything on schedule and the whole thing is under budget,” said Wright.

Good news for business managers like Pete McCaffery at Keenan’s Irish Pub.

“Every business in this area has been hurt tremendously,” said McCaffery, who virtually lost his daytime clientele because of the construction project.

But Wright and other engineers say this project was like a life-saving surgery. While it was painful in the short-term, this project – slated for completion by Oct. 30 – will open up traffic from gridlock to speed-limit cruising until approximately 2030, he said.

Now, as engineers like Wright put the finishing touches on this vital roadway, businessmen like McCaffery are trying to lure back customers who’ve been staying away since this project started, more than two years ago.

“We’re actually doing a marketing campaign now to make sure people know that it is done,” he said. It’s an effort McCaffery estimated will take a couple of months. But, said Wright, as customers return to businesses along Barrett Parkway, they’ll find congestion eased considerably.