City of Arlington officials will celebrate the completion of the North Cooper Street Improvement Project during a special ceremony at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10.

In the Towne North Shopping Center at Cooper Street and Randol Mill Road, City of Arlington officials will join residents and nearby businesses to celebrate the completion of the 22-month, $9.7 million improvement project on Cooper Street.

Tuesday’s program will include Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck, District 1 Councilmember Joe Bruner, District 5 Councilmember Lana Wolf, and Public Works Director Mike Hasler.

"With the completion of the North Cooper Street Improvement Project, we have improved our traffic carrying capacity by more than 50 percent," Hasler said. Cooper Street is now six lanes from Interstate 30 to Mansfield.

"We have completed the last major link in our efforts to improve north and south mobility in the Cooper Street Corridor in accordance with the Thoroughfare Plan," he said.

The project also paved the way for safety improvements at the railroad crossing on Cooper Street. Medians were raised and new gates were installed. The Department of Public Works estimates more than 30,000 vehicles a day travel this section of Cooper Street. Voters authorized funding for Cooper Street improvements in a 1994 Bond Election.

Cooper Street, from Abram Street to I-30, has been widened to six lanes. The project also included street lighting, landscaping and underground water and sanitary sewer improvements. Construction started in March 2002 and was completed in December 2003.