Drivers who use Loop 303 in the Surprise area will soon be traveling on the newly constructed northbound side of the freeway between Peoria Avenue and Mountain View Boulevard.

Arizona Department of Transportation officials said the “traffic switch” this weekend will allow construction crews to build the future southbound lanes as part of the project to modernize Loop 303 into a six-lane freeway in the West Valley.

Loop 303 is scheduled to be closed between Grand and Glendale avenues from 10 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Sunday to allow crews to switch traffic from the current lanes to the new pavement. Traffic will be detoured along Reems Road while Loop 303 is closed. East-west streets in the area will remain open.

When this weekend’s switch is completed, ADOT reported Wednesday, Loop 303 traffic will travel along one lane in each direction using the new northbound pavement north of Peoria Avenue and the off- and on-ramps at the interchanges at Cactus, Waddell, Greenway and Bell roads. Temporary traffic signals have been installed to allow the two-way traffic to move through those intersections, officials said.

The $128.7 million project to upgrade Loop 303 between Peoria Avenue and Mountain View Boulevard, south of Grand Avenue, is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2013.

Other ongoing projects to improve Loop 303 into a six-lane freeway between Interstate 10 and Grand Avenue are due to be finished by fall 2014.

For information about ADOT’s Loop 303 Improvement Project north of I-10 visit www.azdot.gov/Loop303.