Triangle Transit and GoTriangle have won the American Public Transportation Association's AdWheel Award for social media marketing and communications -- for their first stab at the youth market in "It's Easy, Baby," a transit-promo video featuring three cute toddlers who play grown-up bus commuters.

This is easily the second-best video on GoTriangle's YouTube page -- after the terrific #flipfortransit production that features older youngsters exercising their extraordinary passion for bus travel at various Triangle locales. (See 2/24/12 Road Worrier column.)

View NC 86 bridge over I-85 @ Hillsborough in a larger map

Repair work will close the N.C. 86 bridge over I-85 (Exit 165) at night for a week or more, starting Tuesday, Oct. 2, the state Department of Transportation said.

The bridge will be closed between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. each night for milling, paving and bridge deck slab repairs.  The work is expected to take at least 7 to 10 nights.

Detours will be marked, directing northbound drivers on N.C. 86 to go north on I-85 to Exit 170 and return to Exit 185.  Southbound drivers on N.C. 86 will be detoured via Old N.C. 86 (Exit 164).

Smithfield residents, downtown businesses and Johnston County commuters aren’t sure how they will handle the scheduled closing for six to eight months of the busy U.S. 70 Business bridge over the Neuse River, starting Tuesday evening, Sept. 25. (See 9/23 Smithfield Herald story.)

The state Department of Transportation is replacing the five-lane bridge, built in 1923, at the west edge of downtown. Demolition will start this week as soon as the old bridge is closed.

The new structure will be expanded to include a pedestrian walkway on the north side and a combination bicycle-pedestrian path on the south side. D.H. Griffin Construction Co. of Raleigh won a $5.3 million contract to build the new bridge.

While the Neuse bridge is closed, the 25,000 cars and trucks that use it each day will be diverted to other routes. ... [MORE]

Joseph Szabo, the head of the Federal Railroad Administration, visited Raleigh's warehouse district this morning to announce an additional $22.3 million in federal funds that will complete the cost of a a $60 million replacement for Raleigh's outmoded, dinky Amtrak station. [2pm update: see Matt Garfield's story from today's announcement.]

It's not new money.  There is $15.1 million that was part of $545 million in federal stimulus (ARRA) money for fast-train improvements, announced in 2010.  The $15.1 million was a small part of that big package that was not designated in advance for a particular project.  And another $6.7 million (not mentioned by Szabo today) that had been marked for track improvements in that same original $545 million package.

This money is added to a $21 million federal TIGER grant -- which WAS new money -- that Raleigh won in June. Plus $466,000 announced today, to help with preliminary engineering costs. ... [MORE]

Check out this jaw-dropping video of four remarkable athletes who turn Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill locations into their personal Jackie Chan playground. [2/24/12 update: See Road Worrier column.]

What are they promoting?  Public transit.  This is Try Transit Week (bus rides are free today, Thursday). The "#flipfortransit" video was posted by GoTriangle, a  marketing arm for transit agencies in Wake, Durham and Orange counties. (Find this and other bus-riding videos, including one with cute preschoolers, at youtube.com/gotriangle.)

And when they get back on the bus, they're not even breathing hard.

Here are the credits:

Ready to flip for transit? Follow four athletes as they use a combination of parkour, freerunning and public transportation to move around the Triangle.
Athletes: Alan Tran, Ben Webster, Chris Bess, Devante Thomas
Shot and edited by Dominic Sansotta
Additional footage from Tyler Blackmon
Special thanks to www.CanvassedApparel.com for providing athlete's clothing.
To learn more about the athletes who made this project possible, visit www.ensomovement.com
To see more of Dominic Sansotta's work, check out https://vimeo.com/user9508420

I didn't know what parkour is, or what freerunning is. Now I know. 

View Kelly Road in a larger map

A new bridge and interchange that lifts Kelly Road over U.S. 64 at Apex will open for traffic Sept. 26, the state Department of Transportation said.

It was built as part of the nearby Triangle Expressway toll road project. To prepare for the new bridge opening, DOT closed an existing section of Kelly Road north from U.S. 64 to Jenks Road, on Wednesday.  A detour is marked to reroute Kelly Road drivers on U.S. 64, Green Level Church Road and Jenks Road.

On a blustery day like this one, you'll want to check your flight status before you head to the airport. Now you can do that -- check for on-time or delayed arrivals and departures -- on the home page of Raleigh-Durham International Airport's new website.

RDU says its redesigned website has several improvements, including a new blog and a version designed for mobile phones (you'll find the link at the upper right corner of the main RDU page).

The most user-friendly feature is the real-time flight status info, placed prominently on the home page.  So you can see, for example, that UA4676 to Newark, with departure originally scheduled for 12:52pm today, now is expected to leave at 2pm.

View 4-way stop in a larger map

A message from DOT to drivers on rural Green Level Church Road near Apex: Prepare to stop.  The intersection at Jenks Road will be converted Wednesday to a four-way stop.

Drivers on Jenks stop now.  DOT will install stop signs and stop-ahead signs for drivers on Green Level Church Road.

The only explanation given is that an investigation found that the 4-way conversion was warranted by "traffic volumes and other factors."

Here are the rules of the road for drivers approaching a 4-way stop: ... [MORE]

View Vandora Springs Rd & Buffaloe Rd roundabout in a larger map

The state Department of Transportation says it will close the intersection of Vandora Springs Road and Buffaloe Road in Garner for two months, starting Monday, Sept. 17, for construction of a roundabout.

Traffic will be detoured north of  the intersection via Old Stage Road, Woodland Drive and Timber Drive.  The new roundabout intersection is expected to reopen by Nov. 16.

If you want that red light to turn green, park your bike right here.

That's the message behind this pavement marker on Farrington Road / Beaver Creek Road (SR 1008) at the U.S. 64 intersection in the Wilsonville community near Jordan Lake.  You can see the diagonal cut for an embedded pavement wire sensor that tells the traffic signal you're waiting for your green light. [9/18/12 update: see today's Road Worrier column with reader comments.]

Cyclists: Do these things work? Let me hear from you. Please include your name and weekday phone contact info.

NCDOT installed this one in rural Chatham County. Local officials have installed bike detectors at traffic signals in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Charlotte, Greensboro and other burgs.  (Why not Raleigh?) ... [MORE]