RALEIGH — It’s official, but will it stick?
The state Department of Transportation has selected the official humorous nickname for its plan to cause three years of misery during a complete pavement rebuild on 11 miles of Raleigh’s southern Beltline.
They’ll call it “Crawleigh.”
Road crews will dig up and replace all the concrete and asphalt on the eight-lane Interstate 40-440 Beltline across south Raleigh, from U.S. 1-64 on the west side of town to U.S. 64-264 on the east side.
Traffic will be squeezed into two lanes each way for months at a time, day and night. The work starts in summer 2013 and won’t be finished until 2016.
DOT polled Triangle drivers for nonprofane nickname suggestions, selected five finalists, and put them to an online vote. “Crawleigh” won 2,360 of the 4,752 votes cast online. The second choice was “Southern Discomfort,” followed by “Carmuda Triangle,” “South-Wake Remake” and “Wake-Over.”
Grant Tew of Raleigh was the first of about 40 people to nominate “Crawleigh,” according to DOT. There was no prize other than bragging rights.
DOT will use the nickname in its official references to the Beltline project. Some drivers might think of other names.
Siceloff: 919-829-4527 or blogs.newsobserver.com/crosstown or twitter.com/Road_Worrier/
