AUGUSTA (AP) – State officials say it’s all but a sure thing that the southbound lanes of Interstate 295 from Gardiner to Topsham will be closed to traffic for 2 months this summer to rebuild the highway.

Closing the highway during the summer tourist season at first seemed like a shocking idea. But a Department of Transportation official now says there’s a 90 percent chance that’s what will happen.

Officials say closing the road and rerouting traffic onto the Maine Turnpike or Route 201 is safer, cheaper and faster than closing down single lanes here and there over three construction seasons.

The final decision on whether to close the 22-mile stretch of interstate won’t be made until bids for the project come in late this month. The project is expected to cost about $32 million.