The Back River Bridge connecting Jasper County in South Carolina and Hutchinson Island in Georgia on U.S. 17 near Savannah is now open.

Traffic coming from Talmadge Bridge to South Carolina will take the new bridge, Jill Nagel, spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Transportation, said. Drivers traveling from Hutchinson Island will stay on the old bridge for an additional two weeks as crews build the approach from the island.

The bridge is about 0.6 miles long and was budgeted to cost $16.4 million, Nagel said.

The new two-lane bridge has 8-foot-wide shoulders on each side to improve safety.

The bridge opened Thursday afternoon, Nagel said, and drivers transitioned smoothly.

The project, which began construction in July 2013, will be complete by the end of the year with the demolition of the old bridge, according to Nagel.