Interstate 65 will be reduced to one lane Wednesday and Thursday at night as work continues on the new interchange linking the interstate to U.S. 31-W in a new connector configuration.

The interstate will then have one lane closed each direction for about 60 days while work proceeds on the long-awaited interchange. The lane closure will be put in place near mile marker 30.

“There is really no good time to do lane closures on an interstate, so that is why we do it at night,” said Wes Watt, spokesman for the Department of Highways in Bowling Green.

“It can absolutely create traffic delays, especially Wednesday and Thursday,” Watt said of the work.

A short-term and long-term lane closure will be put in place in both directions on I-65 in Warren County.

The short-term closure will take place from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday and 8 p.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday. Crews will close the inside lane next to the barrier wall and the center lane. That means I-65 will be down to one lane for about a mile, Watt said.

“The about one-mile long distance gives traffic plenty of transition before and after the closure,” Watt said.

The long-term closure will begin Friday with the inside lane being closed in both directions for about a mile for the expected 60 days.

The new I-65 interchange near mile marker 30 is part of the I-65 to U.S. 31-W connector project, Watt said.

The cost of the $40.8 million project is broken into two parts. The grade and drain part is about $23.8 million and the surface part is about $17 million. Both contracts were awarded to Scotty’s Contracting of Bowling Green.

The I-65 to U.S. 68 portion of the project is expected to be open by July, while the entire project is expected to be completed by the end of 2017, Watt said.

— Follow business reporter Charles A. Mason on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.