Construction to widen the Interstate 25 bottleneck from Monument to Castle Rock could begin next year – more than six months earlier than had been anticipated, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.

If all the funding for the project comes through – including a highly-competitive $65 million federal grant for which it is in the running – crews could break ground in late 2018 and finish in Spring 2021, CDOT spokesman Bob Wilson said in an email Friday.

Under the current proposal, two toll lanes would be added to the roughly 17-mile stretch known as the Gap, expanding the highway from two to three lanes in each direction. The additional toll lanes would be similar to the express lanes on U.S. 36 between Denver and Boulder.

Transportation officials previously said that crews could begin construction in mid-2019.

“It’s one of the highest priority projects for the state so CDOT is doing all it can to break ground on it as soon as it’s feasibly possible,” Wilson said in a follow-up email.

News of the potentially accelerated timeline comes days before CDOT’s executive director Mike Lewis is scheduled to give an update on the project at a news conference set for 11 a.m. Monday in Colorado Springs.

CDOT is also gearing up for two I-25 open houses next week. The first will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Kirk Hall at the Douglas County Fairgrounds in Castle Rock. The second will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the El Paso County Office of Emergency Management at 3755 Mark Dabling Blvd. in Colorado Springs. CDOT officials will provide additional information about the status of the project and safety and engineering improvements. Attendees will have the chance to comment and ask questions, the agency said in a news release.

CDOT has estimated the widening will cost about $350 million. It gained momentum in October, when the state’s Transportation Commission voted to designate about $250 million – a portion of the money that a new law is expected to generate through the sale of state-owned buildings – to I-25 widening if it wins the federal award.

Winning the grant, administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Infrastructure for Rebuilding America program, remains a formidable challenge, CDOT officials have said. Rob Papsdorf, CDOT’s federal affairs Liaison, told The Gazette in October he pegs the success rate of applications at 8 percent. But officials say the pledges the project has drawn from local governments give it an edge over the competition.

On Nov. 7, voters in El Paso County approved a pair of ballot initiatives that will set aside at least $16 million for the project. One measure allowed the county to retain excess tax revenues, including at least $6 million that will help pay for the widening; another authorized the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority to spend $10 million in future transportation tax revenues on the project.

Local funds would likely foot the remainder of the bill. County Commissioner Mark Waller is pushing for the county to allocate another $9 million to the project in coming years through its regular budgeting process. Douglas County commissioners are considering a budget proposal for next year that would include plans to allocate $10 million total to the project in 2021 and 2022 – although that money could become available sooner, depending on when construction begins, according to Douglas County spokeswoman Wendy Manitta Holmes.