Starting next week, area drivers will begin benefitting from a $40-plus million, multiyear project that is expected to improve local interstate access and open hundreds of acres for commercial development.

The Liberty Way Interchange is slated to open at the beginning of next week — or before a dedication ceremony planned for Wednesday, Oct. 7.

While part of the project extended Cox Road from Hamilton-Mason Road north to the Green Crest Golf Course, the interchange’s major work consisted of constructing on-and-off ramps at Liberty Way — formerly, Hamilton-Mason Road — and Interstate 75, as well as widening Liberty Way between I-75 and Cincinnati-Dayton Road to the west.

Drivers will have the ability to access the interstate from Liberty Way in addition to existing ramps off Ohio 129.

The latest estimated cost for the project is $43 million. However, officials from Liberty and the Butler County Transportation Improvement District are holding off on citing a final cost pending work that needs to be completed — mostly beautification efforts — through the spring of 2010.

Next week’s opening also is ahead of schedule based on predictions earlier this year, which suggested a springtime unveiling. Only within the past few months did the early-October opening become a reality.

“It was originally going to open in June 2010, and when you see that big of a jump, it has to be significant. To see the project from the beginning to now is phenomenal,” said Liberty Trustee Christine Matacic, who began working on the planning phases of the interchange during her first term eight years ago. “It’s a dream come true...”

The interchange also opens up nearly 600 acres of land for commercial development and is meant to ease traffic on Tylersville Road in West Chester Twp.

“It may take 20 or so years to build out, but our early projections are that it could add 10,000 new jobs and $250 million in payroll,” said Trustee President Patrick Hiltman.