In five days, drivers will be able to cruise about six new miles of Bluffton Parkway.

The new section of the road opens Tuesday, giving drivers, bikers and pedestrians another route through the Bluffton area. The $22.6 million road extension stretches from Simmonsville Road to S.C. 170.

The parkway will officially open after a 9 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony at its intersection with Buck Island Road, said Beaufort County spokeswoman Suzanne Larson.

Government officials will be on hand to celebrate, Larson said, then it will be accessible to traffic. Some drivers already have taken a trip down the parkway, she said, ignoring barrels blocking the entrance.

A portion of Bluffton Parkway overlaps Buckwalter Parkway. Stoplights will direct traffic at both spots where the parkways meet. Stoplights at S.C. 170, Buck Island and Simmonsville roads will be turned on Tuesday, said county administrator Gary Kubic.

Malphrus Construction began building the parkway in late 2005. It was funded by impact fees charged to developers, a 2.5 percent event admissions tax and money from the towns of Bluffton and Hilton Head Island.

Crews are putting the finishing touches on the road, Kubic said, including replanting vegetation that wasn't growing well in the medians.

The road provides an east-west alternative to U.S. 278 and S.C. 46 and can be used during hurricane evacuations, Kubic said. The county secured funding to extend the parkway east to the base of the bridges to Hilton Head. Eventually, officials would like to see the road extended to I-95.

"When you see it on paper as compared to actually driving it, it is quite interesting and impressive," Kubic said.