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Summertime brings with it plenty of road construction in the Triangle. To let you know the main projects that are occurring, here is a summary of them by county, based on information provided by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and its Construction Progress Report (ProgLocSearch (broken link)). Keep in mind that there also is work happening within town limits of many Triangle cities that are not included as part of the NCDOT tally.
Wake – The NCDOT is holding to Aug. 1 as the completion date for the newest portion of Interstate 540 (
I-540 - WCR) stretching southwest approximately eight miles from the interchange with Interstate 40 just west of Raleigh-Durham International Airport (
Raleigh-Durham International Airport) to N.C. 55. A month before that (July 1), the widening of N.C. 55 to four lanes from north of the U.S. 64 interchange in Apex (
Town of Apex: Apex, NC) into Durham County should be completed after four years of work, thus helping with traffic flow on that road too. Theoretically these improvements should save at least five to 10 minutes driving time between the airport and southwestern Wake including Apex and Holly Springs (
Town of Holly Springs, NC), plus ease some congestion at Research Triangle Park during peak driving times.
Wake’s other big road construction involves I-40 south of Raleigh, where a bypass of U.S. 70, also being called the Clayton Bypass (
NCDOT: US 70 Clayton Bypass), will run from the interstate and rejoin the present U.S. 70 in Johnston County after 17 miles are finished. Work began on the $123 million-plus project in June 2005 and is expected to be done by June 15, 2009.
Durham – Here is where the activity with the most impact on drivers is occurring right now. Due to botched previous instructions, Interstate 40 is being repaved from where it widens to three lanes on each side at Exit 270 (U.S. 15-501 between Durham and Chapel Hill) to the merge with N.C. 147, better known as the Durham Freeway. This $21 million-plus project has been moving pretty much on pace despite a few nighttime showers that slowed work on a few weekends, and most of what needed to be done initially in the eastbound lanes has now been complete, meaning the westbound ones will face backups the next few nights. For more information on the situation, read this article (
newsobserver.com | I-40 westbound lanes due to close (http://www.newsobserver.com/news/growth/traffic/story/599461.html - broken link)).
Also, work on widening, paving and grading more than six miles of N.C. 54 heading into Wake County in Research Triangle Park (
Research Triangle Park) began Feb. 19 and will be finished by Nov. 1, 2009. The $35 million project may be finished before that date, as it already is running well ahead of its scheduled progress. The NCDOT has contracts for shoulder reconstruction and resurfacing on other parts of N.C. 54 plus U.S. 15-501, as well as widening N.C. 98 from east of its intersection with U.S. 70 for nearly half a mile, but no construction has occurred on these spots as of this writing.
Orange – Not much going on here right now except for an extended intersection called a superstreet that is designed to be an improvement to the congested intersection of U.S. 15-501 (
U.S. Route 15-501 in North Carolina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) and Erwin Road in what is being called the Europa Drive Superstreet Project (
NCDOT- Chapel Hill US 15-501 and Erwin Road/Europa Drive Intersection Improvements (http://www.ncdot.org/projects/Superstreet/ - broken link)). The estimated date of completion is Oct. 31 of this year, however the last estimate in late May found the project running somewhat behind schedule. Nevertheless, NCDOT has not announced a revised completion date, so apparently they believe they can make up the difference over the next few weeks or months and be finished on time.
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