Roadwork at a busy Cumming intersection is moving along.

Several buildings have been torn down on Atlanta Highway near where it meets Meadow Drive and Bald Ridge and Mary Alice Park roads.

The intersection improvements are part of a federal road project being handled by the state Department of Transportation.

Jill Goldberg with the DOT said the project is listed as officially under construction.

"It was let [for bid] on Dec. 16," she said.

The project involves 13 land parcels, which Goldberg said have all been purchased.

"All the land would have been acquired before we were able to let the project," she said.

The estimated cost of the project is about $6.4 million, which will come from the DOT’s safety funding. The city of Cumming also paid $1.5 million of the cost.

Steve Bennett, assistant city administrator, said city leaders received word last week that a pre-construction meeting would be held "sometime in the next two to three weeks."

"At that time, we’ll have a full construction schedule," he said.

Until then leaders didn’t want to speculate on how long the process may take.

DOT representatives have previously said it will be lengthy, citing the project’s "complicated design" and need to allow traffic to flow through the area during construction.

Improvements will include connecting Mary Alice Park and Bald Ridge roads. They will then flow together and join Meadow, which will be extended.

Meadow will then meet Atlanta Highway at a traffic light, and stop signs will be added at Mary Alice Park and Bald Ridge roads.

Upgrades will include making all the intersections 90-degree angles, as well as leveling some hills to flatten the topography, and improving grades of roads, which will be straightened as much as possible.