After years of planning, the first phase of the U.S. Route 35 upgrade is about to be completed.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Putnam County segment of the highway is planned for Friday afternoon.

Among those scheduled to attend are Gov. Joe Manchin, state Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox and Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito.

When finished, the four-lane highway will stretch 35 miles from Crooked Creek in Putnam County to Point Pleasant in Mason County.

Upgrading U.S. 35 to four lanes has been on the drawing board for decades. The road is a popular thoroughfare for tractor-trailers traveling between West Virginia and Ohio and has been the site of numerous accidents.