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Overhead cameras on N.C. 540 in western Wake County soon will be snapping pictures of license plates to test technology that will be used, starting in December, to identify cars and collect revenues on North Carolina’s first modern toll road.

The cameras are being installed between N.C. 54 and N.C. 55 on a section of the 540 Outer Loop that will become part of the Triangle Expressway.

Tolls will be collected electronically from drivers using TriEx, either from photos of their license plates or from dashboard transponders – which will qualify drivers for lower toll rates. The N.C. Quick Pass transponders will go on sale this fall.

The N.C. Turnpike Authority will start testing the cameras in the next two weeks to see how well the technology identifies the car owners. ... [MORE]

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Triangle residents are invited to two public workshops Thursday for the latest info on the Triangle Expressway, an 18.8-mile toll road under construction in Research Triangle Park and western Wake County.

The N.C. Turnpike Authority will provide information about construction of the two main components of TriEx:

* The Triangle Parkway – 3.4 miles through RTP, set to open in December – is an extension of the N.C. 147 Durham Freeway and will be marked with purple signs as Toll 147. It is the focus of a workshop session from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at Research Triangle Foundation headquarters, 12 Davis Drive in RTP.
* The Western Wake Freeway / Expressway / Parkway (these folks use three different names for the road, and they can’t seem to settle on one) will run 12.6 miles from the end of N.C. 540 at N.C. 55 near RTP south to N.C. 55 at Holly Springs. ... [MORE]

The House moved quickly today (Thursday) to enact legislation barring the N.C. Turnpike Authority from building or even studying the unpopular Red Route option for a Wake County toll road that would bulldoze neighborhoods and split Garner in half. [Update Friday 4 p.m.:  Gov. Bev Perdue signed the measure into law this afternoon.]

Gov. Bev Perdue is expected early next week to sign the measure, The legislation was sought by Garner officials who had worried they were about to lose a major new employer.  An unidentified health services company has an option on 10 acres in a business park that would have been threatened by the Red Route, with plans for 225 jobs at salaries averaging $50,000 a year, town officials said.

"This is a jobs bill," said Rep. Nelson Dollar, a Wake County Republican, as the House approved the Red Route kill bill by 115 to 1.

"You can build this expressway -- just don't do it to Garner," said Rep. Darren Jackson, a Wake County Democrat.  The Senate had approved the bill last week in a 50-0 vote.

“I think we can announce to the world now that we’re open for business,” Garner Mayor Ronnie Williams said later.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reaffirmed warnings that had been sounded earlier by turnpike officials.  ... [MORE]

The House will surely pass Senate Bill 165 today, and the governor will surely sign it as quickly as possible. So the N.C. Turnpike Authority will surely be barred by law from building or even studying the reviled Red Route option for a toll road that would cut Garner in half.

Turnpike officials concede defeat and  promise to find some other way to get permission from federal environmental regulators to build the TriEx Southeast Extension across southern Wake County. They favor the Orange Route, which would muddy sensitive streams that harbor an endangered mollusk, the dwarf wedge mussel. Environmental regulators are still not ready to forget about the Red Route.

And Garner Mayor Ronnie Williams, still in a combative mood, is not ready to concede victory and lay down his weapons. ... [MORE]

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After the first section of the Triangle Expressway opens in December, Research Triangle Park workers and other commuters will have a new decision to make at rush hour:

(A) Stick with the old route to work, which can get a little crowded at times, or
(B) pay a toll for what is supposed to be a quicker drive.

Which choice will you make?  I’d like to hear from you today for a story I’m writing.  Please e-mail me or call me at 919-829-4527, and don’t forget your contact info.  [Belated 3/17/11 update: Thanks for the feedback! See 3/5/11 story with many more comments.]

The N.C. Turnpike Authority is about to approve initial toll rates that will average 15 cents a mile for commuters who use a windshield transponder called N.C. QuickPass, and 23 cents for everybody else in a 2-axle vehicle.  ... [MORE]

Two Wake senators have filed legislation to block the N.C. Turnpike Authority from doing what it says it doesn't want to do anyway:  build a new turnpike through the town of Garner.

Senate Bill 165 proposes that the planned Triangle Expressway Southeast Extension "shall not be located north of an existing protected corridor established by the Department of Transportation circa 1995, except in the area of Interstate 40 East."

That means nothing north of a widely favored path known as the Orange Route, which would take TriEx well south of Garner to extend the turnpike across southern Wake County from Holly Springs to Interstate 40 near the Johnston County line. ... [MORE]

Two Wake County senators have filed legislation to block the N.C. Turnpike Authority from doing what it says it doesn't want to do anyway:  build a new turnpike through the town of Garner. [3/3/11 update: More in today's story.]

Senate Bill 165 proposes that the planned Triangle Expressway Southeast Extension "shall not be located north of an existing protected corridor established by the Department of Transportation circa 1995, except in the area of Interstate 40 East."

That means nothing north of a widely favored path known as the Orange Route, which would take TriEx well south of Garner to extend the turnpike across southern Wake County from Holly Springs to Interstate 40 near the Johnston County line. ... [MORE]

The N.C. Turnpike Authority said this afternoon that it still has not received permission from environmental regulators to abandon the option of running a six-lane toll road across southern Wake County on the widely criticized “Red Route" and "Pink Route”, which would bulldoze homes, businesses, parks and churches in Garner.[Update: see 1/21/2011 story.][Another update: see 1/21/2012 story, "Feds get TriEx report."]

The announcement came after meetings with state and federal agency representatives who said they still are weighing the Red and Pink routes as alternatives to a more southerly path. The other option, known as the Orange Route,  crosses streams that are home to an endangered species, the dwarf wedge mussel. ... [MORE]

N.C. Turnpike Authority officials hope today to win state and federal environmental regulators' permission to drop the option of running a six-lane toll road across southern Wake County on the widely criticized “Red Route" and "Pink Route” that would bulldoze homes, businesses, parks and churches in Garner. [Updated 10:30 a.m.]

David Joyner, the Turnpike Authority director, said reports that the Red Route had been dropped were premature. "We hope it happens very, very shortly," he said this morning. [Update: see 1/21/2011 story.]

Turnpike officials are scheduled to meet today with federal environmental regulators who required them to consider the Red Route as an alternative to a more southerly path, known as the Orange Route, which crosses streams that are home to an endangered species, the dwarf wedge mussel. ... [MORE]

Eastern Wake residents are invited to an open house Thursday for an update on the N.C. Turnpike Authority's plans for the eastern leg of the Triangle Expressway toll road.

That's the part that would run from Interstate 40 near Garner north to the eastern tip of the 540 Outer Loop on U.S. 64 / 264 at Knightdale.

The meeting is 4:30 to 7:30pm Thursday at the Barnwell Road Community Center, 3935 Barnwell Road, Raleigh.

Planning for the eastern leg of the TriEx Southeast Extension is several years behind work on the southern section between Holly Springs and Garner.  Garner residents are pressing the turnpike authority to drop consideration of the alternate "Red Route" for that road, which would run through the middle of town.