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Early-morning drivers this week may have noticed delays on Route 29 as construction crews close the road for 15-minute intervals to set structural steel for an Inter-County Connector bridge slated to go over the road.

The closures started this Monday and represent the start of 40 to 45 nights of work along the route to connect the pillars already in place for four ICC bridges, according to David Buck, spokesman for the State Highway Administration. All construction is set to take place between midnight and 5 a.m. on weekdays, he said, when most cars are not on the road.

"Quite honestly, the volumes are extremely low then, to the point that we don't anticipate [backup] would get anywhere close to a half mile," he said.

On mornings of construction, crews will close either one or both lanes for periods of 15 minutes to safely place heavy structural steel, Buck said.

"What they're doing up there is splicing these large massive beams together," he said. "It usually takes 15 [minutes], and there are times it might take up to 20, but the work needs to get done, and we're not going to let the road open back up until it's safe to do so."

All construction will only occur if the weather permits and if there are no accidents on the suggested detour routes of Old Columbia Pike and Interstate 95, he said. Plenty of signs will be on the route to warn drivers of upcoming construction areas. Having plenty of side streets along the route and parallel road Old Columbia Pike should allow drivers to find a detour before they are stuck waiting in line, he said.

Drivers can expect to see construction "pretty regularly" through next March, Buck said, with some gaps of time between each bridge.

Route 29 road-closure dates

for first bridge:

-Northbound and Southbound sides: midnight to 5 a.m. Thursday, Friday, Monday and Tuesday

-Northbound side only: midnight to 5 a.m. Nov. 4, Nov. 5, Nov. 6 and Nov. 9