Raleigh drivers, beware: Closing of Wade Avenue bridge will mean a difficult detour

People who take Wade Avenue out of downtown Raleigh will face a potentially arduous detour starting next month as contractors for the N.C. Department of Transportation build ramps to a new Wade bridge over Capital Boulevard.

The detour is one of two changes in the traffic pattern along Capital Boulevard tied to the replacement of two bridges just north of downtown. Starting Tuesday, Oct. 2, the exit ramp from southbound Capital to Peace Street will be closed permanently, replaced by a new exit south of the bridge that will take drivers on to Johnson and Harrington streets before reaching Peace at a new traffic light.

But it’s the temporary closure of the Wade Avenue flyover starting Oct. 8 that’s going to cause the most headaches. With the bridge closed, message boards will direct outbound Wade drivers to get off at Peace Street, drive up the hill to Glenwood Avenue and turn right and follow Glenwood up to Wade.

With the new light at Harrington Street, the detour will involve going through four traffic lights before making the turn onto Glenwood. And to get from Glenwood onto westbound Wade Avenue, drivers will need to make a left turn at a place where there is no traffic light to stop oncoming traffic.

Drivers coming east on Wade Avenue who want to get on northbound Capital Boulevard will be directed to make the reverse detour — south on Glenwood, left on Peace, then left on Capital. Inbound Wade traffic heading downtown will be able to turn onto southbound Capital as normal.

The detours are expected to begin Oct. 8 and last 180 days for traffic going from Wade to northbound Capital and 60 days for drivers leaving downtown to get on Wade. NCDOT’s resident engineer for the project, Jeremy Warren, said he thinks people will understand the route after a day or two but acknowledges it will take longer to get around.

“We just hope people are patient with us,” Warren said.

The contractor for NCDOT has built a new Wade Avenue flyover bridge adjacent to the existing one, but it needs to be tied in to the road at either end. That work will occur while the detours are in place.

Drivers will inevitably seek alternatives to NCDOT’s suggested detour. One complication is that Clark Avenue will be closed where it meets Peace Street near Cameron Village until the end of November while the city replaces an aging stormwater pipe under the road. Drivers who are taking Wade out to Interstate 40 may want to consider going south from downtown to get on I-40 there.

The traffic changes are part of a $36.9 million project to remake a 1-mile stretch of Capital Boulevard just north of downtown. It began with the need to replace the Wade Avenue flyover and the Capital Boulevard bridge over Peace Street; both bridges are more than 60 years old. It also includes realigning the road, adding sidewalks and a 10-foot grassy median and reconfiguring the interchange at Peace Street. About 63,000 cars and trucks used this stretch of Capital each day in 2016, the most recent year for which numbers are available.

The project is expected to be completed in the fall of 2019.

Engineers say replacing the existing ramp from southbound Capital onto Peace will move traffic better and more safely. The current ramp ends at a stop sign, forcing drivers making left turns to cross moving traffic to get on and off Peace. The new ramp will not only lead to a new traffic light at Peace and Harrington but will also eventually provide direct access to West Street, allowing some drivers to avoid Peace altogether.

Warren said replacing two bridges along a busy road in the heart of the city is obviously more difficult than doing it elsewhere.

“You are impacting a lot more people,” he said. “Everyone just has to understand these things are to make everything better in the future.”

For more information on the project, go to www.ncdot.gov/projects/capital-blvd-bridges/.

This story was originally published September 28, 2018 at 12:37 PM.