End in sight for road projects

Relief is in sight for some of the Triangle's hot, muggy traffic.

* INTERSTATE 85 IN DURHAM: All lanes, four or more in each direction, should be open for traffic by the weekend of Aug. 26, the state Department of Transportation says.

It took DOT 13 years and $270 million to add lanes, replace cramped interchanges and fix engineering mistakes that have tormented travelers since this eight-mile stretch of I-85 opened in 1961. Most of the work is done, but there are lots of orange-and-white construction drums yet to be rolled away.

Some northbound lanes were opened this past weekend, easing the flow from U.S. 15-501 into I-85, DOT engineer Aaron V. Earwood says. After the last southbound lanes open later this month, drivers will find the Triangle's first, worst interstate transformed into a mighty good road.

* I-540 IN RALEIGH FROM CAPITAL BOULEVARD EAST TO U.S. 64-264: DOT engineer Robert E. Shultes hopes to put traffic on this new arc of the Outer Loop by the end of the year.

"Weather permitting," he adds. This concise caveat is applied to all DOT construction forecasts, especially during hurricane season. It means: "The good Lord willin' and the creeks don't rise."

The I-540 paving work has been completed south of the Neuse River and is moving north toward Capital Boulevard. Most of the paving is done at night. When the daytime thermometer hits 95, it's too hot to pave -- not for the sweating road crews, but for the concrete itself.

If you're wondering about the western end of I-540, from I-40 through Research Triangle Park to N.C. 55, that job is due to be completed by August 2007.

* N.C. 55 WIDENING FROM U.S. 64 IN APEX TO CORNWALLIS ROAD IN RTP: This job has run past its originally scheduled completion in June. DOT engineer Phillip R. Johnson says the contractor, Blythe Construction Co., expects to finish by the end of this year.

Blythe has added more workers to the job and is to start the final asphalt paving soon. The first section from U.S. 64 to High House Road could be open by the first of October, Johnson says.

The new road will have four lanes with a median. RTP commuters have complained as much about inconsistent traffic signals along N.C. 55 as they have about basic construction delays. Joshua Higgin of Apex says his 15-mile drive home takes 25 minutes on a good day -- and sometimes as much as 55 minutes.

"The widening is great," Higgin said Monday. "But if they're not going to time the lights, it's going to make for a lot of stop-and-go."

Some of the new N.C. 55 intersections will be added to Cary's new synchronized traffic signal network.

* U.S. 1-64 WIDENING IN CARY FROM TRYON ROAD TO THE RALEIGH BELTLINE: It's a pretty big job that got under way in January 2005, and DOT planned to move pretty fast to finish it by the end of October.

The new lanes have been paved except in places where they tie in to new ramps and loops. Most of the remaining work involves overhauls for the interchanges at Walnut Street and Cary Parkway.

The work has fallen behind, but DOT engineer Cadmus Capehart hopes to have all lanes open to traffic by the end of November.

That would still qualify as pretty fast.