View Edwards Mill Road Greenway in a larger map

DOT says it has awarded a $604,000 contract to build the 1.3-mile Edwards Mill Road Greenway in West Raleigh, from the Reedy Creek Road Greenway to Trinity Road.

State Contracting of Wake Forest won the contract, to start work as soon as Feb. 28 with completion in mid-October.

The new trail on the east side of Edwards Mill Road will extend Raleigh's greenway network, adding a connection to the Loblolly Trail through Schenk Forest. It also will give pedestrians and cyclists a new route to the RBC Center.  The city of Raleigh will contribute $28,000 to the project and take over maintenance of the greenway after it is built.

View I-40 widening / Beltline renaming in a larger map

NCDOT says it will put down some pavement reflectors this weekend to help drivers keep their place in shifting lanes on Interstate 40 between Harrison and Wade avenues in West Raleigh. The work is planned between 8 and 11 a.m. Sunday.

That's good news for nervous drivers on a stretch of I-40 that is being widened, a $49 million job that will be finished by July.

And about time. ... [MORE]

Finally, NCDOT says it will put down some fresh white stripes this weekend to help drivers keep their place in shifting lanes on Interstate 40 between Harrison and Wade avenues in West Raleigh.

This is welcome news for nervous commuters who face the rising sun as they travel east toward Raleigh in the morning.

Drivers have complained in recent weeks that the faint lane stripes vanish in the early morning sun -- while gouge marks left after the removal of older stripes become more visible.  It's hard to tell which lines are the correct lane dividers. ... [MORE]

View Blue Ridge Road @ Hillsborough Street in a larger map

Over or under?

That’s the quandary for railroaders, traffic engineers, and scads of drivers and pedestrians who yearn for a smart way to separate busy Blue Ridge Road from its clogged crossings at Hillsborough Street and twin train tracks in West Raleigh.

About 40,000 cars and 22 trains creep through this intersection on an average day – and at this hot spot, average is a misleading idea. Weekend flea markets, the annual State Fair, and frequent hockey, basketball and football games all make this corner even more trafficacious. [12/14 update: reader comments and more detail in today's Road Worrier.]

NCDOT engineers say the forecast is for gridlock here by 2030 – unless we pick one of these options: ... [MORE]

View Davis Drive bridge construction in a larger map

Construction on the Triangle Parkway toll road will cause big delays for nighttime traffic on Davis Drive in Research Triangle Park over the next two weeks, the state Department of Transportation says.

Some lanes will be closed at night between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. Tuesday through Dec. 11, for construction of a bridge over Davis Drive between Development Drive and Hopson Road.

Traffic will be stopped for up to an hour at a time between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. Tuesday, Thursday, Monday and Dec. 8.
 

View Delaware Turnpike: I-95 Newark Toll Plaza in a larger map

To reiterate a recent warning: Thanksgiving holiday traffic on Interstate 95 is thoroughly clogged, with backups for miles, because of a Delaware Turnpike construction project.

I-95 is probably the worst highway on the Eastern Seaboard, and this is definitely the worst bottleneck.

It's so bad that Delaware, which collects $4 from every car at its Newark Toll Plaza, is urging travelers to find other routes to the northeast states.

How to avoid trouble? The Washington Post's Dr. Gridlock has lots of detour suggestions.

View Delaware Turnpike: I-95 Newark Toll Plaza in a larger map

Some Tar Heel travelers will experience their worst Thanksgiving traffic jams far north of North Carolina -- on Interstate 95.

The Delaware DOT is sending alerts up and down the Atlantic Seaboard, to warn of awful backups during Thanksgiving week. The culprit is a $32 million project to rebuild the I-95 Newark Toll Plaza in northern Delaware: "The predicted impacts are expected to be greater than in recent years and could stretch for miles and take hours to clear."

If you're traveling to the northeast, you're advised to find another route around the Delaware Turnpike.  Or else schedule your trip through there during the wee hours, when traffic is not so heavy.

In other words, after you make it through the I-95 horrors of northern Virginia, the worst may still lie ahead.

View I-40 weekend construction delays in a larger map

Three road projects will cause slowdowns this weekend for drivers on Interstate 40 in Durham and western Wake counties -- including football fans heading to Chapel Hill Saturday for the UNC-NCSU game, NCDOT says.

SATURDAY: 

- Two of the four lanes on westbound I-40 will be closed 6 a.m. - 9 p.m. Saturday for paving between 540 Outer Loop (Exit 283) and NC 147 Durham Freeway (Exit 279). It's part of the project to widen the exit ramp from 540 to I-40 west, which NCDOT hopes to have open for traffic in December.

-- Paving on Airport Boulevard (Exit 284) will close on- and off-ramps for I-40 travelers in both directions intermittently 8 a.m.- 6 p.m. Saturday. Detour signs will direct airport travelers and other drivers to Aviation Parkway (Exit 285).

Football fans attending the game (12 noon) should allow time for traffic delays or look for other routes.  One option is US 64 west from Cary to NC 751, then north to I-40.

SUNDAY: ... [MORE]

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

Saturday night and Sunday morning traffic will be squeezed into a single lane on westbound Interstate 40, for work that is part of a widening project on a stretch of I-40 between Cary and West Raleigh. I-40 and Wade Avenue drivers should look for other routes.

Three lanes will be closed, and the exit from westbound Wade Avenue to I-40 West will be closed, from 9 p.m. Saturday to 10 a.m. Sunday.

Wade drivers will be detoured via I-40 East and N.C. 54 -- but that route will put them into the bottleneck created by the lane closings. Better to find a different path, such as N.C. 54 or Glenwood Avenue and the 540 Outer Loop, to go west from Raleigh.

NCDOT says crews will close three of the four lanes for restriping between Wade and Harrison avenues, then reopen with five lanes. [MORE]

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

The end is in sight for two highway projects that will open up the Triangle’s worst rush-hour bottlenecks.

Construction is a few weeks ahead of schedule on a $49 million job to widen a four-lane, six-mile section of Interstate 40 in West Raleigh, between Wade Avenue and U.S. 1/64. Traffic will be shifted starting next week onto two lanes built this year in the wide median, so road crews can move onto the outside lanes and shoulders.

And by late December, the state Department of Transportation says, commuters will start using newly widened exit lanes and ramps on the clogged 540 Outer Loop interchange at I-40 near Research Triangle Park. ... [MORE]