View I-40 / I-540 interchange in a larger map

A 540 Outer Loop exit ramp at Interstate 40 will be closed at night to allow construction of a sign for the Triangle Expressway toll road, for three nights starting late Wednesday night (early Thursday morning).

The state Department of Transportation said the work will close the exit from northbound NC 540 to westbound I-40 between midnight and 6 a.m. early Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings.

Motorists will be detoured to the Aviation Parkway exit of I-540 North (Exit 2), then back onto I-540 South and to the ramp for I-40 West.

View I-40 weekend construction delays in a larger map

Three road projects will cause slowdowns this weekend for drivers on Interstate 40 in Durham and western Wake counties -- including football fans heading to Chapel Hill Saturday for the UNC-NCSU game, NCDOT says.

SATURDAY: 

- Two of the four lanes on westbound I-40 will be closed 6 a.m. - 9 p.m. Saturday for paving between 540 Outer Loop (Exit 283) and NC 147 Durham Freeway (Exit 279). It's part of the project to widen the exit ramp from 540 to I-40 west, which NCDOT hopes to have open for traffic in December.

-- Paving on Airport Boulevard (Exit 284) will close on- and off-ramps for I-40 travelers in both directions intermittently 8 a.m.- 6 p.m. Saturday. Detour signs will direct airport travelers and other drivers to Aviation Parkway (Exit 285).

Football fans attending the game (12 noon) should allow time for traffic delays or look for other routes.  One option is US 64 west from Cary to NC 751, then north to I-40.

SUNDAY: ... [MORE]

Hardly anybody likes the N.C. Turnpike Authority's new ideas about possible routes through southern Wake County for a planned six-lane toll road from Holly Springs to Garner and Knightdale. 

So the Turnpike Authority will announce today that it is eliminating some alternative routes from further consideration.

Residents of neighborhoods in and around Fuquay-Varina, Holly Springs and Garner criticized the new options presented in September at public meetings on a project called the Triangle Expressway Southeast Extension. The Wake County commissioners voted unanimously in October to endorse the original path (it's the dotted line you see on the map here) that had been proposed in the 1990s.

Check back here later for updates on the turnpike announcement.

View I-40 / I-540 interchange & I-40 widening in a larger map

The end is in sight for two highway projects that will open up the Triangle’s worst rush-hour bottlenecks.

Construction is a few weeks ahead of schedule on a $49 million job to widen a four-lane, six-mile section of Interstate 40 in West Raleigh, between Wade Avenue and U.S. 1/64. Traffic will be shifted starting next week onto two lanes built this year in the wide median, so road crews can move onto the outside lanes and shoulders.

And by late December, the state Department of Transportation says, commuters will start using newly widened exit lanes and ramps on the clogged 540 Outer Loop interchange at I-40 near Research Triangle Park. ... [MORE]

View I-440 / southern Beltline work in a larger map

Expect delays and detours again this weekend when road crews close lanes on two Triangle freeway projects -- affecting Tom Petty / ZZ Top fans along with other drivers on I-440 and I-540.

Work on a $3.4 million resurfacing project on the southeast corner of Interstate 440 will closes three of the four lanes for drivers on I-440 West (formerly known as the Outer Beltline).

From 9 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Monday, I-440 West drivers will be funneled into the far left lane between the I-40 split and Poole Road.  I-440 West drivers will not have access to Poole Road, and one lane on the ramp from I-40 West to I-440 West will be closed, NCDOT says.

The I-440 work will mean extra drive time for music fans heading to Walnut Creek for a Saturday evening show that features Tom Petty and ZZ Top. ... [MORE]

They keep changing their minds about what boring name to call it, but what matters is that they really do plan to build the final southern and eastern chunks of Raleigh's 540 Outer Loop.

Lately the N.C. Turnpike Authority uses the name Triangle Expressway Southeast Extension to describe a 30-mile tail that will be nearly twice as long as its namesake doggie, the Triangle Expressway toll road now under construction in Research Triangle Park and western Wake County.  (Previously it was called a Connector; before that it was labeled as two separate Expressways; and as Freeways.)

Whatever. The occasion for this update is a series of public meetings Sept. 21-23, in which the turnpike authority will talk about its work so far and ask citizens for their comments.  See meeting details below. ... [MORE]

View I-40 / I-540 interchange in a larger map

Weekend construction work will again close both off-ramps from the southwest-bound 540 Outer Loop to both directions of I-40, from 9pm Friday to 6am Monday.

It's part of a $7.6 million NCDOT project to add a lane to the ramp for westbound I-40, NCDOT says. Similar closures will be scheduled for two more weekends.

Marked detours will route drivers to I-40 via NC 54 and Miami Boulevard.

View I-40 / I-540 interchange in a larger map

Weekend construction work will close both off-ramps from southwest-bound 540 Outer Loop to  I-40, from 9pm Friday to 6am Monday.

It's part of a $7.6 million NCDOT project to add a lane to the ramp for westbound I-40. Similar closures will be scheduled for up to four more weekends

Marked detours will route drivers to I-40 via NC 54 and Miami Boulevard.

View 540 @ US 64 / 264 in a larger map

DOT is adding more layers of warnings at the eastern end of Raleigh's 540 Outer Loop, to remind drivers not to miss the final exit to U.S. 64 / 264.

Three motorists in recent months have driven through the "Road Closed" barricades and crashed down the embankment at the freeway's end near Knightdale.  After a May 18 crash involving a tractor-trailer, DOT traffic engineers decided to add more warnings at the site. 

DOT said today that a second set of barricades has been installed in front of the existing ones at the end of the roadway. Also to be installed in coming weeks are:

- Three sets of flexible posts

- Six sets of noisy rumble strips in the pavement about 1,500 feet before the interstate ends

- More signs informing drivers that the road is ending and they must exit onto U.S. 64/ 264.

View 540 Loop @ Davis Drive in a larger map

Call it planned obsolescence: State roadbuilders knew in July 2007 -- when they opened the NC 540 section of Raleigh's Outer Loop through southern Research Triangle Park -- that the Kitt Creek Road / Davis Drive interchange would not last for long.

At least they were pretty sure. So it wasn't really a surprise when NCDOT announced today that the interchange will close for good on June 1, a bit less than three years after it opened.

Workers at Cisco Systems and NetApp are among the big beneficiaries of this intherchange ... [MORE]