The $330 million widening project is in high gear as buildings continue to crumble along Interstate-44.
The expansion will widen the highway from Riverside to Yale from 4 to 6 lanes.
Monday crews continued to tear down a strip mall near I-44 and Harvard.
They will than continue west with the remaining 46 structures yet to come down.
"We're on schedule we're pushing it as aggresively as we can." said ODOT Engineer Paul Green.
The state is working on a very tight timeline. At I-44 and Riverside phase one is underway with the burial of a mile long concrete drainage system.
By Fall 2009, Green hopes to be working on the $44 million Harvard interchange. Crews will than tackle the Peoria and Lewis interchanges.
The entire should be completed by 2013.
In the meantime, both westbound I-44 on and off ramps at Riverside are closed until further notice.
