The project is expected to be completed by December, weather permitting, Saratoga public works director John Cherbone said.

The $2 million project, paid for mainly with funds from Caltrans, is set to give the city's Gateway District a new look. When the project is completed, motorists will cross Prospect Road and enter Saratoga driving past an entry monument with the city's name and logo on it. Cars will cruise the re-laid road along a landscaped median with trees, shrubs and flowers.

Stamped concrete crosswalks will be installed where Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road intersects with Prospect Road, Sea Gull Way and Kirkmont Drive. Sidewalks, curbs and gutters will be constructed where there are none. Picnic tables and benches near Calabasas Creek will be part of a small gathering area.

"I think it's really going to make that whole area look so much better," Mayor Kathleen King said. "It's really going to look classy."

Utility work, storm drain work and other underground work began mid-May, while construction of the median on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road began early in September, Cherbone said. "We've been able to do the project without closing lanes permanently," he said. Motorists can expect periodic temporary lane closures but the city is trying to keep traffic flowing as smoothly as possible. "One of our main concerns is to keep traffic flowing as best we can given the complexities of a project like this."

Funding for the Gateway Improvement Project has also gone to upgrading the medians on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road from the railroad tracks to the Village.

Other improvements included in the project's budget are planned upgrades to the intersection at Pierce Road and Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road that will take place in the spring. The grade differences between the roadways will be improved, as will drainage. A traffic island will be landscaped.

Cherbone said the project is moving along swiftly and that if the good weather holds up there could be an early completion date.