Except for planting grass and other landscaping, improvements on a five-mile section of road at Fort Benning are 99 percent complete, an official said Wednesday.

Construction on Lindsey Creek Parkway, 1st Division and Dixie roads weren’t completed for the Sept. 15 deadline for the Base Realignment and Closure improvements. The $35 million project also included widening of Marne Road Bridge and improving on and off ramps used by soldiers and employees to reach Martin Army Community Hospital, the Post Exchange and headquarters of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team at Kelley Hill.

The major road improvements were aimed at easing congestion as BRAC relocated some 20,000 soldiers, family members, civilian employees and contractors to the post with the U.S. Armor School’s move from Fort Knox, Ky., and other changes throughout the post to create the Maneuver Center of Excellence.

Col. Frederick Wolf, deputy garrison commander of transformation, said the project is substantially completed, but landscaping will continue into the spring. Crews already have planted 1,000 trees and shrubs along the roadway.

Soldiers and civilians who use the roadway have noticed the difference in traffic flow on the road which was widened from two to four lanes and includes turning lanes.

Skip Caldwell, the range manager on post, used to travel Dixie Road weekdays before his office moved to 8th Division Road two weeks ago. “I like it just fine,” Caldwell said. “It seems to be fine. I use it occasionally to get to headquarters and this morning going to a meeting. It’s tremendously better.”

Traffic flow on the road has improved greatly, said Maj. Ellis Gales Jr., a public affairs officer for the 3rd Brigade. Soldiers use Lindsey Creek Parkway and Marne Road to travel to Kelley Hill.

“I can tell it has improved traffic flow,” Gales said. “Roads are actually smoother as well.”