On Monday, a two-year process of transforming a stretch of Port Republic Road from two lanes to four began.

The stretch of road is just east of the Harrisonburg city limits and runs past the new Rockingham Memorial Hospital.

The project costs $10.2 million and is funded through money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Virginia Department of Transportation construction inspector Terri Snyder says the project was awarded the stimulus money because of the high amount of traffic that travel that stretch of Port Republic. VDOT has calculated 13,000 to 17,000 motorist drive the road daily.

Motorist will have to endure two years of construction, but VDOT officials say they will try to make it easy on drivers.

"There will be times of intermittent flagging operations, but we do not anticipate at this time any closures on Port Road to facilitate any construction," says Doug Simmers, VDOT Construction Manager.

Snyder also says the only time during the day the road will be decreased to one lane is between the times of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., after the morning and evening traffic rush.