ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia officials are getting ready for bids on a project to build optional toll lanes along Interstates 75 and 575.

The project to build optional lanes in Cobb and Cherokee counties is expected cost roughly $1 billion. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that (http://bit.ly/IQhJ1D ) that the cost will be paid largely from state gas tax and toll collections.

The transportation project is the most expensive in state history. In a first, state officials want the designers and builders to work as a team in the hope it will save time and money. That team is also expected to help arrange initial financing.

State officials expect the bidders will loan Georgia up to 20 percent of the project's cost.

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Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com