DOT will close one lane in each direction on the I-440 Beltline this Sunday so a road contractor can put down stripes on new pavement.

That'll be welcome news for drivers who had a hard time seeing the temporary stripes. Several folks have complained to the Road Worrier. A couple of weeks ago, Trudy Kappel asked:

Do you know if the lines painted on the newly repaved section of I440 are the final work? They vanish on a dark rainy night.

Sunday's striping work will take place between Wade Avenue and Wake Forest Road, and between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Starting at 9 a.m. Friday, Wade Avenue traffic will be squeezed again into one lane each way, while DOT crews do more work at the Canterbury Road intersection.

A sewer leak at Canterbury prompted Raleigh and DOT officials to close the lanes for repair work Wednesday night. For an update on when Friday's work will end and the lanes will reopen, call 511 or check DOT's Triangle travel info site online.

DOT is repaving Wade this fall between Faircloth and Oberlin. That work is not supposed to impede rush hour traffic, weekdays from 6 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m.  

The state Division of Parks and Recreation toyed for a year with the idea of opening a third automobile entrance to Umstead State Park (at Graylyn Drive), and it received a few hundred comments expressing sharp opinions on both sides.

The Raleigh City Council's Public Works Committee struggled this year with calls to erect "No Parking" signs in residential neighborhoods where Umstead users leave their cars There were sharp, competing opinions here, too.

State and city agencies helped create these problems. The Umstead maintenance gate at the corner of Trenton and Reedy Creek Roads became an even more appealing destination for park users after the city and the state extended the Reedy Creek Greenway west from the NC Museum of Art -- and stopped it there. The closest parking lot is two miles away at the art museum.

NCDOT banned parking on the state roads outside the Graylyn and Reedy Creek Road maintenance gates -- after it justified paving Graylyn by using high traffic counts that had been generated by those same parked cars.

Both the city and the state are wary of taking steps that will set uncontrollable precedents, cost money and perhaps create new sets of environmental, legal and political problems.

So the parks division refused this week to open the Graylyn gate. And the city council said ... [MORE]

Well, maybe it wasn't even close. But it's a relief to learn that the US 70 Clayton Bypass did NOT win a prize as America's most innovative transportation project this year.

Yes, it's pretty. Yes, it provides a quicker path to the beach for U.S. 70 drivers.

But:

* The project was delayed for years and the pricetag grew enormoously because of DOT environmental dithering,
* It makes the weekday drive WORSE for many I-40 commuters, and
* Its innovative technology is broken. DOT folks didn't realize this until they read it in the N&O. They're still trying to repair it.

So it would have been embarrassing to win undeserved honors from AAA, the US Chamber of Commerce and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

DOT Secretary Gene Conti lobbied Johnston County residents, construction moguls and even his own 12,000 employees to stuff an online ballot box with enough mouse clicks to earn honors as the "People's Choice" project.

We got out-clicked by fans of a Florida project: "The 95 Express Miami Project is a $63 million High Occupancy/Toll lanes arrangement that encourages carpooling and rewards travelers with lower fares for traveling during off-peak hours."

And a group of judges gave the top prize to the Minnesota DOT for the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis -- not the one that collapsed in 2007, but the replacement that was designed and built in 14 months.

You can count on road crews to park their bulldozers on Thanksgiving and other major holidays -- but watch out when you're driving around the Triangle this Halloween.

NCDOT engineers say that, weather permitting, they'll be at work Saturday on a number of repaving and road improvement projects that could cause traffic backups.

Lane closings are likely on the I-40 widening project in West Raleigh (at the Wade Avenue bridge), and for paving jobs on:

    - I-540 north of I-40,
    - I-40 between I-540 and Wade,
    - I-440 and
    - US 64 / 264.

DOT engineers sometimes provide road work schedule updates on their travel information website and 511 phone service.  Unfortunately, DOT does not publish daily details on exactly when and where you can expect to find construction delays. 

View Wade & Glenwood repaving in a larger map

NCDOT will start work Monday on a project, funded with federal stimulus dollars, to repave Wade Avenue inside the Raleigh Beltline.

All lanes will stay open during the weekday rush hour, 6-9 a.m. and 4-7 p.m.

But some lanes will be closed and traffic will be slowed at other times of the day and night, DOT says. Wade carries about 30,000 cars and trucks each day.

NCDOT also awarded a $1.2 million contract this summer to repave Glenwood Avenue inside the Beltline, but that job now is scheduled to start in March.

View Glenwood Ave. @ Westgate Road, Raleigh in a larger map

Uh oh. Duffy Heath says it could be happening again: a safety fix that introduces new danger at Glenwood and Westgate.

DOT traffic engineers recently made changes intended to improve safety at the Glenwood Avenue intersection with Westgate and Lumley roads in northwest Raleigh (see this week's Road Worrier column).

But Heath says the changes contributed to a scary brush with death there recently. He inadvertently ran the red light and nearly got creamed by two cars rushing down the off-ramp from westbound Glenwood. ... [MORE]

Gov. Beverly Perdue has made her picks for four more seats on the state Board of Transportation.

Perdue notified members of a legislative oversight committee Wednesday of her intention to reappoint Stan White of Nag’s Head to the board’s Division 1 seat, and to appoint four new members:

Division 6 seat, previously held by Mac Campbell: Gary Ciccone of Fayetteville. Ciccone is a partner in a commercial real estate firm and board chairman of New Century Bancorp. Other New Century board members include state Sen. Tony Rand of Fayetteville, the Senate majority leader, and former Sen. Oscar Harris, who was Perdue’s campaign treasurer.

Divison 8 seat, previously held by G.R. Kindley: David Burns of Laurinburg, former president Z.V. Pate Inc., a farming enterprise.

Division 11 seat, succeeding Arnold Lakey: Sam Halsey, 74, of Jefferson, a Christmas tree farmer and former Chevrolet dealer. In a telephone interview, Halsey said he voted for Perdue and gave her a “very small” campaign contribution.

At-large seat for government-related finance and accounting, to succeed Tony Dennis of Norwood: Ronnie Wall of Burlington.

The five will join 12 other board members. Perdue has scaled back the board's powers, removing board members from decisions on individual transportation projects.

View 4-way stop: Cheek Rd @ Burton Rd, Durham in a larger map

This week NCDOT will convert a rural intersection east of Durham -- Cheek Road (SR 1800) @ Burton Road (SR 1818) -- to a 4-way stop.

Drivers on Burton now stop at that corner. New signs will be installed to make drivers on Cheek stop, too.

Who goes first at a 4-way stop? It depends (first) on who gets there first and (second) on who is to whose right. DOT offers helpful reminders on the proper etiquette at 4-way stop intersections. ... [MORE]

View Wade & Glenwood repaving in a larger map

NCDOT is preparing to start work this fall on long-awaited, inside-the-Beltline Raleigh repaving jobs that will smooth bumpy rides for a combined 60,000 drivers each day on Glenwood and Wade avenues.

Rea Contracting of Charlotte was awarded a $1.3 million project this week, paid for with federal stimulus funds, to mill and resurface 2.5 miles of Wade Avenue from Faircloth Street to Capital Boulevard, including the ramps from Wade to Glenwood Avenue and Capital Boulevard.

The Wade job could start as soon as Oct. 26 and is to be finished by mid-June 2010. No lanes will be closed during weekday rush hours – 6-9 a.m. and 4-7 p.m. – but traffic backups are likely on this busy road at other times of the day and night.

The same hours will apply – lane closings possible except during rush hour – when C.C. Mangum of Raleigh starts work on an $1.8 million contract to resurface 2.7 miles of Glenwood from Woman’s Club Drive to Wade Avenue.

Mangum has the option to start work as soon as next week, with a mid-June completion date. Construction schedules have not been announced.