RUSSELLVILLE – A project roughly 25 years in the making is complete.

With a ribbon-cutting event Tuesday, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and local officials announced that the Russellville Southern By-Pass, which connects Ky. 100 and U.S. 79, is now open.

Russellville Mayor Mark Stratton, addressing the crowd from a podium placed atop a trailer hitched to a Transportation Cabinet van, said the completion of the bypass that encircles the city has been in the works for years.

“There’s an old saying about something coming full circle,” he said. “Well, today, the bypass has come full circle.”

While the bypass surrounds Russellville, it will benefit all of Logan County, Stratton said.

“One of the big things we talk about at the city and the county is, ‘It’s not all about Russellville or Lewisburg or Adairville or Auburn,’ ” he said. “It’s about Logan County, and what’s good for one is good for all.”

Joe Plunk, District 3 chief district engineer for the Transportation Cabinet, said the latest stretch of road is roughly 41/2 miles long and is the final step in completing a 12-mile bypass that loops around Russellville.

“It provides the connection between all the routes going into Russellville,” he said.

The section of the bypass connecting Ky. 100 and U.S. 79 is expected to alleviate traffic at intersections that tend to bottleneck, like Ninth Street and Nashville Road, Plunk said.

“It’s about improving mobility and, in doing that, improving safety,” he said.

The Southern By-Pass project was bid in November 2015 and cost $12.5 million to build, Plunk said.

The construction cost of the bypass totals about $32.7 million, according to a brochure handed out at the event. Plunk noted the construction took place over the course of roughly 25 years and the costs of the different construction contracts in that time haven’t been adjusted for inflation.

Logan County Judge-Executive Logan Chick, said he was thrilled that the bypass was finally complete.

“It’s an exciting time for me, knowing that this project has been completed in my term in office,” he said.

With three state highways and three U.S. highways leading into Russellville, the bypass, by connecting them all, makes them more accessible, Chick said.

The bypass will make a big difference for some local industries, he said, adding that semi trucks often have trouble navigating certain intersections in Russellville. They can now more easily avoid trouble spots, he said.

Logan Economic Alliance for Development Executive Director Tom Harned said good roads and economic development “go hand in hand. …

“A strong transportation system leads to strong economic activity,” he said. “We’re experiencing some of that now and we’re going to experience more in time(s) to come.”