Those rush-hour commuter trains wouldn't do everything everybody wants (see today's story with lots of reader comment). They wouldn't take you to the basketball game or to the restaurant or the airport.

Still, according to a new study, they would be awfully attractive for thousands of students and workers every day.

That's partly because the Triangle is expected to keep growing like crazy. And it's pretty clear that we aren't going to come up with the money to expand our roadways fast enough to keep pace. So every drive to work will take longer and longer in coming years.

Commuter rail would be relatively cheap to build because we don't need much in the way of new tracks or land or environmental studies ... [MORE]

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

The state Department of Transportation will start work this spring, and finish work by December, on a long-sought project to ease congestion at one of the Triangle’s worst rush-hour pinch points: the cramped interchange of Interstates 40 and 540 near Research Triangle Park.

DOT is about to award a $7.6 million contract to C.C. Mangum of Raleigh to add an outer lane that will ease morning backups on westbound I-540 and westbound I-40. The added lane will start on I-540 just south of the Pleasant Church Grove Road overpass, continuing into the exit collector lane and the off-ramp onto westbound I-40, ending at the Page Road exit.

Currently, morning commuters who exit I-540 there are funneled into a single lane that combines drivers bound for I-40 west (toward RTP) and I-40 east (toward Raleigh). Drivers exiting I-40 onto Page Road sometimes are backed up on I-40 and up the single-lane off-ramp from I-540.

When the work is finished late this year, drivers heading for eastbound I-40 won’t be stuck in line behind I-40 west drivers. ... [MORE]

View Zebulon/Wendell-Raleigh Express (ZWX) in a larger map x

The long-awaited rush-hour express bus between Raleigh and the eastern Wake towns of Wendell and Zebulon will start rolling Monday, Oct. 26.

Using Capital Area Transit buses, the Zebulon/Wendell-Raleigh Express primarily will serve commuters who work in downtown Raleigh and East Raleigh, running weekdays 6-9 a.m. and 4-7 p.m.

Morning buses leave a Zebulon park-and-ride lot at 5:55, 6:55 and 7:55 a.m., to arrive an hour later at Moore Square in downtown Raleigh.

Along the way they stop at a Wendell park-and-ride lot, in East Raleigh near WakeMed and Wake County Human Services, and at four state government complex stops. There are three afternoon buses making the reverse trip, leaving Moore Square at 4:10, 5:10 and 6:10 p.m.

The eastern Wake park-and-ride locations are ... [MORE]

View US 70 Clayton Bypass in a larger map

Engineers at the state Department of Transportation are still trying to repair all the broken technology on the U.S. 70 Clayton Bypass – and DOT is still trying to engineer victory in an online vote for the nation’s most innovative transportation project.

Transportation Secretary Gene Conti urged his 12,000 employees Tuesday to stuff an online ballot box with their votes for the $123 million freeway in a competition with nine other projects picked by judges for three organizations including the AAA motor club, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

“U.S. 70 Clayton Bypass in the running for national award - cast your vote today!"

That was the boldface headline on an e-mail Conti sent to all DOT employees at 3:14 p.m. Tuesday. Conti continued: ... [MORE]

The US 70 Clayton Bypass is a contender for national honors as an innovative highway project that was constructed and opened to traffic ahead of time.

The question for commuters is: Does it get you to work ahead of time?

Your online vote can help decide the winner in this national contest.

Please let me hear about your experience with the new US 70 route around Clayton to I-40, which opened in June 2008:
- Has it quickened the pace of your daily drive, or did it merely relocate your traffic jam?
- Does the extra technology -- speed information signs, cameras etc -- help you?
- Did they do this one right?

Call me at 919-829-4527 or e-mail me. Don't forget to include your workday contact info.

The AAA motor club and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) have named the Clayton Bypass as one of 10 finalists in the 2009 America's Transportation Awards competition. Judges will make the final call in late October, and the public also is involved in online voting for the "people's choice" favorite. ... [MORE]

View Carter-Finley Stadium, RBC Center in a larger map

N.C. State University has a football game at 7 p.m. Thursday in Carter-Finley Stadium, so let's get ready for a special pre-game feature on the streets of West Raleigh:

A rush-hour traffic contest between fans and commuters.

Football fans will try to claim the home-field advantage — even before they park their cars for the game between NCSU and the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Commuters who usually travel through West Raleigh on Interstate 40, Wade Avenue, Blue Ridge Road and other nearby streets should consider playing an away game instead. Stay as far away from Carter-Finley as possible. ... [MORE]

View US64 Chatham-Wake Study in a larger map
Honk if you love that daily drive to work on U.S. 64 through Apex and western Wake County.

And if you're interested in NCDOT ideas for making changes to this road, you should come to a meeting Thursday evening at Green Hope High School in Cary.

(See this week's Road Worrier column with reader comments. Note: the column gave the wrong web address for NCDOT info about the project. Sorry! The correct address is www.ncdot.gov/~us64study/.)

State and local transportation planners will start the session Thursday evening with a presentation at 6:30 p.m. on their proposal to convert traffic signal intersections to "Superstreets," and to ban side-street drivers from driving across or turning left onto U.S. 64.

A group of local residents calling themselves Save 64 is petitioning to stop the DOT plan. Their efforts earlier this year prompted DOT to schedule Thursday's meeting.

It'll be interesting to find out Thursday whether U.S. 64 commuters agree with local residents.

State and local transportation planners will host a community meeting Thursday evening, July 16, to air their ideas for speeding up traffic on a clogged hunk of U.S. 64 between Cary and Pittsboro.

The event takes place at Green Hope High School, 2500 Carpenter Upchurch Road, Cary, starting with a formal presentation at 6:30 p.m. and ending at 9 p.m.

Read up on DOT ideas at www.ncdot.gov/~us64study/. Click "transportation solutions" and then "short-term improvements" to see what they have in mind. A group of Cary and Apex residents who have qualms about DOT plans have their own website at www.save64.org.

And let me know if you're interested in this. Are you a U.S. 64 commuter? How's the drive? Please e-mail me or call me at 919-829-4527. Don't forget to include your daytime contact info so I can reach you Monday.

State DOT planners propose to turn U.S. 64 into a "Superstreet," installing new-fangled traffic loops at intersections that have traffic signals now. The idea is similar (with differences) to the Chapel Hill superstreet that has virtually eliminated traffic backups on U.S. 15-501 at its intersection with Europa Drive / Old Erwin Road.

Here's how it would work: ...

We can build it, but how many will come?

North Carolina Railroad said today that it will commission a commuter train ridership and market study for the 140-mile rail corridor from Greensboro through the Triangle to Goldsboro.

Last year the state-owned railroad concluded that it would be possible to add rush-hour commuter trains to the tracks now shared by Norfolk Southern freight and Amtrak passenger trains. It would cost between $2.3 million and $9.3 million per mile to add passing tracks and upgrade bridges and crossings.

Regional government and business leaders were interested in the prospect ... [MORE].

Starting in January, biking to work could qualify you for a modest tax break (Road Worrier: "$700 billion plan offers tidbits to bike commuters").

The IRS has not yet announced rules for the addition of bicycling to what employers call qualified transportation fringe benefits programs. These programs already include (more genereous) tax breaks to defray employee costs for transit passes, vanpool fees and parking bills.

The League of American Bicyclists promises to post updates as details become available. Stay tuned.