NATCHEZ — Orange construction barrels and cones will be soon be wrapping Natchez from entrance to exit.

Construction is slated to begin today on a highway fly-over structure that will eventually send U.S. 61 southbound traffic over D’Evereux Drive and onto Seargent S. Prentiss Drive.

The Mississippi Department of Transportation project joins two ongoing projects — overlay and road work on U.S. 61 South and an upgrade to the lighting system on John R. Junkin Drive.

N.L. Carson Construction Company, Inc. of Carthage, the contractor on the D’Evereux project, will start moving its equipment to the former MDOT truck scales site today, weather permitting.

Thursday, work will begin on the northbound lane of U.S. 61, from the Old St. Catherine Creek Bridge to the VFW Headquarters on Seargent S. Prentiss Drive.

Work on the first phase of the fly-over structure will continue until August 2012.

The fly-over structure will slope back to the ground and be at road level before the highway reaches Walmart, MDOT Engineer Darrell Broome has said.