Commuters looking for another way to bypass downtown DeKalb will not have to wait much longer.

The second phase of the $1 million Bethany Road project is expected to be completed within 90 days.

Bethany Road, which currently runs from Sycamore Road to North First Street in DeKalb, soon will expand to run all the way to Annie Glidden Road.

“Bethany Road is being built in phases,” said Joel Maurer, DeKalb assistant city engineer. “There’s been an early phase that has been built already which would be Bethany Road between First Street and Annie Glidden Road, which just got opened last fall.”

This new extension is meant to be an arterial, or bypass, road. This means it would allow traffic coming north to go to the southwest of DeKalb while avoiding the already heavily-trafficked streets of downtown DeKalb.

“There has been phases being thought through to continue the west-bound movement and then sweep it southwest toward Route 38,” Maurer said. “The desire is to continue southerly at Route 38.”

Currently, there is a 1,500-foot gap that prevents access from First Street to the Bridges of Rivermist, a recently developed residential community. This also prevents access to the newest section of Bethany Road that connects to Annie Glidden Road.

DeKalb is bonding with or loaning money to DeKalb Associates, the developers of Rivermist, to complete the section.

“The money will be paid back over three years,” City Manager Jim Connors said.

Maurer said that at a certain point in the development of Rivermist, the builder agreed to construct the missing link in the Bethany Road extension that would connect First Street and Annie Glidden.

Currently, the developer has not reached that phase of construction and has not completed the extension. However, it is expected that it will be completed within 90 days.

Other phases being considered are an extension from Annie Glidden Road to Twombly Road, then on to Route 38 and beyond to the toll road. However, it has not been finalized whether these parts of the project will be completed.

Originally, the DeKalb Township coordinated the Bethany Road extension when the project was first started five years ago. Maurer said the project now falls within city limits.