Boarded-up houses, empty lots where buildings once stood and construction equipment along Holland Road signal the eventual start of a widening project, but there is still a lot of work to be done before the project is complete.

The city is in the midst of acquiring property it needs to complete the project. Property acquisition alone will probably last until the end of this year or the beginning of next year, Sherry Earley with the Department of Public Works said.

Earley said design of the project is mostly complete, aside from finalizing things after all the property is acquired.

The project will add a lane in each direction from the west end of the bypass to about three-quarters of a mile west of Manning Bridge Road. The project cost is about $76 million, which is already funded, mostly with state dollars.

Dianne Williams of Public Works said about 171 parcels will be impacted by the project. A total of 23 have been acquired.

“We’re just getting started,” Williams said.

Earley said homes that are acquired are being boarded up and demolished as quickly as possible.

“We want to get those demolished as quickly as we can once we acquire them,” she said.

Once all of the right-of-way is acquired, that will allow utility relocations to begin in preparation for construction.

One earlier phase of the work that will begin happening fairly soon is the intersection improvements at Manning Bridge and Holland roads.

“We’re almost finished with that acquisition,” Earley said. “You will start seeing utility relocations probably in the next 90 days.”