Drivers, prepare for the next round of changes to your Brent Spence commute. The good news: This should be one of the last major traffic changes before the bridge reopens to full capacity. The bad news: It will mean another weekend of major traffic headaches.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet announced Wednesday the next traffic pattern change it will implement on the bridge carrying Interstates 71 and 75 over the Ohio River between Cincinnati and Covington. The traffic changes are part of an ongoing, months-long maintenance and repainting project on the bridge.

Disruptions this weekend

In order to implement the lane changes, crews will need to close additional lanes and traffic exits between Friday, Aug. 20 and Sunday, Aug. 22.

The long and short of it: Avoid using the bridge if you're traveling northbound Friday night into Saturday, especially if you're trying to continue onto I-71 or I-75 North.

Here's a breakdown of where bridge drivers will be able to get and when throughout the weekend:

• Northbound lanes will reduce to ONE lane both Friday and Saturday nights.
• Access from the bridge to I-75 north will be CLOSED Friday night into early Saturday morning.
• Access from the bridge to I-71 north will be CLOSED late Saturday morning, reopening by noon.

Brian Niesz/WCPO

Here's a rough timeline of the lane and access closure:

• Beginning 10 p.m. Friday, the bridge's lower, northbound deck will reduce to one lane of traffic.
• Also at 10 p.m. Friday, access from the bridge to I-75 northbound will be CLOSED until Saturday morning.
• Once crews reopen access to I-75 northbound, they immediately will close the bridge's access to I-71 northbound. Access to I-71 is expected to reopen later Saturday.
• Overnight Friday, from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., law enforcement will implement rolling roadblocks on I-71/75 northbound. Police will hold traffic in 15-minute intervals to allow road crews to safely establish the new traffic patterns.
• By noon Saturday, two lanes of northbound travel will be restored (the left two lanes).
• Overnight Saturday, the northbound deck will again be reduced to one lane as crews finalize their work.
• By 6 a.m. Sunday, the new traffic pattern — the two left lanes open — will be set into place.

New traffic pattern

For the last several weeks, the middle two northbound lanes on the bridge's lower deck have been closed, leaving only the outer two lanes open to access I-71 on the right and I-75 on the left.

By Sunday, only the two left lanes will be open.

That traffic pattern on the lower deck should remain in place until the project is complete in November, weather permitting, according to KYTC officials.

There will be no change to the upper deck's southbound lanes: The two right lanes will remain open, and the two left lanes will remain closed. A change to the upper deck's traffic pattern will take place leading up to the project's completion.

COVINGTON, Ky. — Drivers who have just gotten used to the new traffic patterns on the Brent Spence Bridge should brace themselves for another shakeup this week.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet announced Monday new lane closures on the Interstate 71/75 span across the Ohio River that will go into effect this coming weekend. The changes will impact northbound traffic only.

Starting at 10 p.m. Friday, access to I-75 north from the bridge will be closed as crews prepare for the next phase of maintenance and repainting. Once that setup is complete, crews will then close the bridge's access to I-71 north. KYTC officials said they expect that closure to remain in effect until 5 a.m. Sunday, at which point the longer-term lane patterns will be put into place.

By Sunday morning, the two center northbound lanes on the bridge will be closed, leaving the far-right and far-left lanes open: The far-right lane will provide access to I-71, and the far-left lane will provide access to I-75.

Officials expect this traffic pattern to remain in effect through Sunday, Aug. 29. The southbound traffic patterns — the two right lanes are open, while the two left lanes are closed — will remain in place.

Also in the release, KYTC District 6 chief engineer Bob Yeager said the maintenance project remained on schedule.

"We are more than 50% complete with the maintenance project on the bridge," he said. "This is a routine project that is part of the normal lifecycle of a major structure like the Brent Spence Bridge."

Yeager also emphasized in the release that inspections of the bridge show it remains safe to carry vehicles.

"They continue to reiterate the structure is sturdy, it is safe, and our maintenance work will ensure it stays that way," he said.

When KYTC first announced the project, they estimated work would continue through November 2021.