The state Department of Transportation had planned on closing the Sumner Tunnel in July and August, mirroring last summer’s shutdown, but drivers can expect a shorter headache this time around: This year’s closure will be just a month.

Transportation officials have announced the around-the-clock closure will still go into effect on July 5, but it will be lifted no later than August 5 as opposed to the 2023 shutdown that lasted through the end of August.

Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver said during a Tuesday news conference that the same scope of work will be done –  replacing two inches of road with new concrete and asphalt – but it will be compressed. With the second month being eliminated, the rest of the project will be finished during additional weekend closures in the fall, he said.

“That work is still necessary,” Gulliver said. “It will be conducted though in weekend closures only which are much less impactful than a full two-month closure originally planned.”

The Sumner, a roughly mile-long tunnel, is one of the four major routes into Boston, carrying traffic under Boston Harbor from Logan International and Route 1A in East Boston. For years, though, the nearly 100-year-old tunnel has suffered from “serious structural deficiencies.”

Last summer, the department installed massive arches that aimed to strengthen the structure’s worn out ceiling and enhance its ventilation. Work also included removing nearly 4,000 linear feet of ceiling panels and upgrading the lighting, communications and life safety systems of the tunnel.

The $160-million project has closed the tunnel periodically since April 2022 and has impeded travel to and from Boston Logan Airport, exacerbating traffic woes in the Ted Williams and O’Neill tunnels.

The closure last summer diverted an estimated 39,000 drivers that travel through the tunnel daily, causing multi-mile backlogs along alternate routes and officials to urge the public to “ditch the drive” – a message they continue to voice this year.

To make up for the loss of the major thoroughfare, the MBTA will be offering free rides on the Blue Line, free and reduced water ferry costs, reduced fares on the Newburyport-Rockport commuter line, and fare-free service for customers boarding key bus routes in Chelsea, among other services.

“Please be patient,” Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt said. “We are doing this as quickly as we can. We are very cognizant of the disruptions this causes. The same with the MBTA, we are providing as many options as possible … especially for East Boston residents.”

In the meantime, officials are also warning drivers of oversized trucks to find alternate routes so they don’t become the next transport rig stuck in the busy Sumner.

“It’s been a problem for us over the last few months,” Gulliver said. “We’ve had a definite uptick in the number of trucks that have come through even more so than what we did before the project started.”