The N.C. Turnpike Authority's plan to start construction this year on the $725 million Monroe Connector-Bypass near Charlotte was set back Thursday when the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of environmental groups that sued over misleading information in the project's environmental impact study, the Charlotte Observer reported.

Instead of making a required evaluation of the costs and benefits of building the road by comparing this to what would happen if the road was not built, the NCDOT study incorrectly had compared building the road to ... building the road. 

The 4th Circuit ruling said NCDOT should have acknowledged its error when regulatory agencies and environmental critics raised questions, according to Steve Harrison's story today in the Charlotte Observer: ... [MORE]

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The N.C. Turnpike Authority says it did business with 4,400 paying customers Tuesday, the first day of toll collections, on the first 3.7 miles of the Triangle Expressway. (See today's story with reader comments.)

The turnpike authority has set cautious goals for traffic levels on its first toll road, with a target of reaching 8,000 to 11,000 cars a day by next July.  So the first-day traffic count is about halfway there.

Even though the turnpike authority has sold 10,400 N.C. Quick Pass transponders for TriEx drivers who want to pay the lowest toll roate, most of the cars that used the toll road Tuesday were not equipped with transponders.

About 39 percent of the cars had transponders. Their tolls -- 50 cents for the whole 3.7 miles one-way, or 30 cents for a partial trip -- were deducted from their prepaid accounts. 

The other 61 percent did not have transponders. They will receive bills in the mail for their tolls, 77 cents or 45 cents for a one-way trip.

If you can read it, this is how North Carolina will collect money from paying customers on its toll roads, starting today.  There are no quarters and no toll booths.

This was the first morning of toll collections on Triangle Expressway (see Monday's story with reader comments). I drove up and down TriEx to check out the (light) traffic. [1/4/11 update: see today's story about TriEx traffic, with reader comments.]  If you took TriEx to work today, I'd like to hear from you by email or phone (919-829-4527), including your workday contact info. ... [MORE]

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Toll collection will begin Tuesday morning on the first leg of the Triangle Expressway, which extends N.C. 147 through Research Triangle Park from I-40 to the 540 Outer Loop. [1/2/11 update: see today's story with reader comments.]

The road opened for toll-free traffic earlier this month, so RTP commuters and other drivers could try it out.

The cost for this 3.7-mile section of TriEx will be 50 cents per trip for folks with N.C. Quick Pass transponders, 77 cents for the rest of us.

So how do you like it?  Do you like it enough to pay a toll?  Will it make your daily drive easier?  If you drive TriEx Tuesday, please share your thoughts -- and your name and workday phone number -- by email or by phone (919-829-4527).

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The first leg of the Triangle Expressway opens for traffic through Research Triangle Park after a ribbon-cutting at 10:30 a.m. Thursday morning, and Nick Parsons expects an easier drive home from work Thursday afternoon. [12/8 update: longer version w/ reader comments in today's story. TriEx now is open for traffic.]

The six-lane toll road extends N.C. 147 south for nearly four miles from Interstate 40 to the 540 Outer Loop. There’s an on-ramp near the Hopson Road gate for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where Parsons works.

“It seems like it’ll save me a lot of afternoon headaches,” said Parsons, 25, who commutes to RTP from Brier Creek.

TriEx is the state’s first modern toll road, but the N.C. Turnpike Authority won’t start charging drivers to use it until Jan. 3.

When construction on the $1 billion Triangle Expressway is finished in December 2012, the road will reach 18.8 miles from I-40 in RTP through the bustling ’burbs of western Wake County to N.C. 55 at Holly Springs.

The short section opening Thursday doesn’t look like much on a big map, but commuters say it could provide big relief from rush-hour congestion on the busiest highways at the center of the region. ... [MORE]

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The 3.7-mile Triangle Parkway, the first leg of North Carolina’s first modern toll road, will open Thursday for 26 days of toll-free motoring (tolls start Jan. 3).

No need to set your alarm clock Thursday morning: the actual driving doesn't start until after a 10:30 a.m. ribbon-cutting.

Will you drive this road free this week? Will you pay to drive it later? I'm reporting on this today. Please let me hear from you by email, and don't forget your name and daytime phone number. If you drive Triangle Parkway Thursday, I'd really like to hear from you then, too.

Triangle Parkway extends the Durham Freeway south from Interstate 40 through Research Triangle Park to the 540 Outer Loop. The rest of the Triangle Expressway, from RTP to Holly Springs, will open in 2012.

Exits at Hopson Road and Davis Drive are close to workplaces including the Environmental Protection Agency, Eisai and Ericsson.

Toll collection – all electronic, with no coin booths – starts Jan. 3. See ncquickpass.com for details.

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Drivers on U.S. 1 will feel a pinch this week when lanes are closed for construction on the Triangle Expressway.

Only one lane will be open in each direction on U.S. 1 between N.C. 55 and New Hill Holleman Road, south of Cary, Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., the N.C. Turnpike Authority said.

Road crews will be constucting temporary concrete barriers here, at the site of a future interchange for the Western Wake Expressway section of TriEx.

The state Department of Transportation has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit by five Wake County landowners who seek to force DOT to buy their land immediately for a road project proposed as a toll-road extension of the Triangle Expressway.

The landowners claim that DOT effectively took their property in 1996 when it marked a swath of land between Holly Springs and Garner as the preferred path for the southern leg of Raleigh's 540 Outer Loop.  They argue that DOT unfairly has prevented them from developing the land or selling it at its full market value. (See landowners' complaint PDF, attached below.)

DOT took steps to protect its preferred corridor under a law that limits development of land that might be needed for a highway. Other landowners have exercised a "hardship" provision giving them the option to petition DOT to buy their land immediately; the plaintiffs argue that this option should be open also to property owners who do not meet the law's criteria of economic and physical hardship.

In its 12-page response, filed Monday in Wake Superior Court, DOT said the five plaintiffs have never asked DOT to buy their land ... [MORE].

Five landowners in southern Wake County have filed suit against the state Department of Transportation, seeking to force the state to buy their land in a corridor designated for 15 years as the likely path for extending the 540 Outer Loop from Holly Springs to Garner.

James and Carol Deans, Mose and Martha Wiseman, and Veronica Williams Woodruff, all with Apex addresses, contend in their lawsuit that they have been unfairly prevented from using their land since 1996, when DOT took legal action to prevent development in the corridor.

The N.C. Turnpike Authority, part of DOT, has begun planning construction of a toll road it calls the Triangle Expressway Southeast Extension.  It would connect to the Triangle Expressway now under construction between Holly Springs and Research Triangle Park. No schedule for land acquisition and construction has been published. ... [MORE]

The Triangle Parkway toll road in Research Triangle Park will open for toll-free traffic on Dec. 8, and a few hundred Triangle residents will get an early chance to travel the new road Sunday afternoon -- on foot, in a 5K road race.

 It’s the first section of the 18.8-mile Triangle Expressway, the state’s first modern toll road, will extend south through western Wake County to Holly Springs. Construction is expected to be completed in December 2012.. 

 More than 400 runners are expected to take part Sunday in the Triangle Expressway Trot, a 5K road race with family-friendly activities. The race will benefit Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the traffic safety advocacy group.

 The event near the intersection of Hopson Road and Davis Drive will include food trucks, ice cream, sidewalk chalk art and demonstrations of big road-building trucks and machines.  The race starts at 2 p.m., with activities from 1 to 4 p.m. ... [MORE]