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I drive the 40 between the 1/64 and downtown Raleigh all the time. What is the big project in the center roadway? Is it gonna be extra lanes or mass transit train?
They are adding a third lane (http://www.raleigh-nc.org/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_2_306_207_0_43/http%3B/pt03/DIG_Web_Content/news/public/News-PubAff-N_C__DOT_To_Begin_Wideni-20090730-11555688.html - broken link) in each direction to the one local section of I-40 that has just two and is the biggest source of bottlenecks for commuters.
They are adding a third lane (http://www.raleigh-nc.org/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_2_306_207_0_43/http%3B/pt03/DIG_Web_Content/news/public/News-PubAff-N_C__DOT_To_Begin_Wideni-20090730-11555688.html - broken link) in each direction to the one local section of I-40 that has just two and is the biggest source of bottlenecks for commuters.
Unfortunately we will never be able to "pave" our way out of traffic jams. Additional lanes encourage additional development which ends up in more traffic. This is a temporary fix at best.
Unfortunately we will never be able to "pave" our way out of traffic jams. Additional lanes encourage additional development which ends up in more traffic. This is a temporary fix at best.
Unfortunately we will never be able to "pave" our way out of traffic jams. Additional lanes encourage additional development which ends up in more traffic. This is a temporary fix at best.
Mike
This area of I-40 has been a serious bottleneck since before US1 was widened, and before lanes were added to I-40 west of Wade Ave Ext.
When one short section of a roadway is undersized to serve the sections it connects, demonstrable for many years, upgrading the infrastructure is quite justified. Overdue, even.
It will not create growth to a greater extent than it will alleviate the existing parking lot on I-40 during daily drive times.
I really think it would be helpful if exit 293 was inaccessible during high commute times. I never drive on I-40 east or westbound, unless its early in the morning or late at night. Whenever I make the mistake of using I-40(7-9 am), I see the biggest slowdown with people trying to merge on to 40 at that exit. The whole highway gridlocks because people cant't merge or don't know how to. Traffic just come to a crawl. What took the city so long to figure out that section of 40 was in dire need of expansion?
Shutting down the interchange between I-40 and 1/440 during commute hours doesn't seem to make much sense...it's a bottleneck because a lot of people need to use it. Are they just supposed to stay home and not go to work? Perhaps metering could be considered as it is used successfully in other areas of the country, but I have a feeling that would have severe upstream effects as well...metering is more effective at on-ramps, not highway-to-highway interchanges.
And it's not the city, it's the state. And every metropolitan area needs road expansion...just look at all the beltways going in around the major cities in the state. There's only so much federal and state money going around...which is why the Western Wake Parkway will be tolled. We'd have been waiting forever if we were hoping for public funding.
I do wish they'd been able to go straight to four lanes each way with this expansion, but at least they're planning ahead and building the bridges over Wade and the inside shoulders to make that step much easier and cheaper.
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