A stretch of highway north of Omaha that’s been plagued by deadly crashes for years will be widened sooner than expected.

On Wednesday, Gov. Dave Heineman announced the expansion of a stretch of Nebraska Highway 133 — also known as Blair High Road — between Blair to Omaha.

The project will widen a section from two to four lanes from just north of Omaha to the Washington County line.

A news release from the governor’s office says the project will take two construction seasons and is estimated to cost $23 million. The Nebraska Department of Roads had been expected to take until 2016 to complete, but is now set to be completed a year early. The department says the speedup was made possible through additional federal funds received this year.