View Triangle Parkway & TriEx in a larger map

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.

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]

They're useless until early January, but they've been selling fast since mid-October.  How come? [11/4 update: see today's story with lots of reader comments.]

The N.C. Turnpike Authority has sold about 1,700 electronic transponders that drivers will use to pay tolls electronically when North Carolina's first modern toll road opens for business.

Have you bought your N.C. Quick Pass?  Why?  I'm reporting on this, and I'd like to hear from you about your plans for driving the Triangle Parkway when it opens for business.

Please email me, or give me a call at 919-829-4527.  Don't forget to leave your name and daytime phone number.

Electronic transponders for North Carolina's first modern toll road will go on sale Tuesday for $5, the N.C. Turnpike Authority says.

The N.C. Quick Pass is an electronic sticker transponder for drivers who plan to use the 18.8-mile Triangle Expressway through Research Triangle Park and western Wake County.  The first section of TriEx, the Triangle Parkway, will open for traffic in December and drivers will start paying tolls to use it in early January. The remainder of the road will open in phases, in August and December 2012.

The Turnpike Authority's customer service center will open for business at 10 a.m. Tuesday at 200 Sorrell Grove Church Road, Suite A, in Morrisville. The transponders will go on sale then at the service center and online at www.ncquickpass.com.

All tolls will be collected electronically.  Drivers without transponders will be billed based on photos of their license plates.  Toll rates are 35 percent lower for cars with transponders.

View Triangle Expressway construction in a larger map

Now that the NC 147 Durham Freeway southern spur from I-40 to Alexander Drive is closed forever, thousands of RTP commuters are trying to find the least inconvenient alternate route to work each day.

NCDOT suggests this one, marked in blue on my map: From I-40 go south on NC 55, then go east on NC 54 to Alexander Drive.

Durham commuters also can reach Alexander Drive by exiting the north end of NC 147 onto Cornwallis Road (or onto Alexander Drive).  Raleigh folks can exit I-40 on Page Road or Davis Drive, then head west on NC 54 to Alexander Drive.  Got it? ... [MORE]

View Triangle Expressway construction in a larger map

Starting this morning, thousands of RTP commuters must find a new way to work because the southern spur of NC 147 (Durham Freeway) from I-40 to Alexander Drive has been closed - forever (see Aug. 19 story with reader comments).

What's your new route?  How will the change affect your commute? Please share your thoughts below or let me hear from you (don't forget your daytime contact info). [6pm update: DOT suggests alternate routes, and announces nighttime lane closings on NC 147 and I-40.]

It was the 279A exit from I-40. The road was especially convenient, and its loss will be a particular hassle, for workers at the EPA and NIEHS, and other offices on Alexander Drive south of N.C. 54.

The N.C. Turnpike Authority closed the convenient connection because it overlaps with the northern end of the Triangle Parkway toll road, now under construction.  The Triangle Parkway is scheduled to open in December.

View Construction Delays: Triangle Expressway in a larger map

More traffic delays are scheduled in coming days and nights on I-40 and Davis Drive as road crews close lanes to accommodate construction of the state's first modern toll road, the Triangle Parkway through RTP, NCDOT says.

 * Nightly lane closings are planned on I-40 between Airport Boulevard and N.C. 55 from Sunday, Aug. 21, through Friday, Sept. 2, between 9pm and 6am.  Some traffic stoppages are planned between midnight and 5 a.m. for as much as an hour at a time.

* Daytime lane closings, between 9am and 4pm, are planned on Davis Drive between Development Drive and Hopson Road next week, from Monday Aug. 22 through Friday Aug. 26.

These plans come on top of DOT's announcements that the NC 147 spur from I-40 south to Alexander Drive will be closed permanently (see today's story with reader comments) starting Sept. 6, and that northbound lanes on NC 147 north from I-40 to Alexander Drive will be closed at night through Sept. 1.

View Triangle Expressway in a larger map

Get ready for long delays at night in  northbound lanes on the NC 147 Durham Freeway, tonight through Sept. 1.

The N.C. Turnpike Authority will close one northbound lane at night from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.  between I-40 and T.W. Alexander Drive. The work will allow construction in the freeway median of a new lane for the Triangle Parkway, part of the Triangle Expressway toll road project. One lane will stay open at all times.

Tonight and Thursday night, road crews will stop all traffic for as much as 60 minutes at a time, to allow for construction of overhead signs.

While we're on the subject: RTP  workers, will the Triangle Parkway make your commute better, or worse? Call me.

As the N.C. Turnpike Authority moves toward the opening late this year of the Triangle Parkway, I'm reporting on how RTP-area commuters are affected by the construction and the new toll road.

EPA, NIEHS and other folks will be affected when some existing routes are changed.  Is this making it harder for you to get to work in the morning and home at night?

Will North Carolina's first modern toll road give you an easier drive each day?

Please let me hear for you: call me at 919-829-4527 or email me, and don't forget to leave your full name and daytime contact info.  Thanks.

View Triangle Expressway in a larger map

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]