The messy merge on westbound I-40 near US 15-501 will change for good this week
Drivers will soon encounter a new traffic pattern where westbound Interstate 40 narrows from three lanes to two at the Durham-Orange county line.
For years, westbound traffic has merged to the right just after the U.S. 15-501 interchange as the left lane ends. With drivers from 15-501 coming on I-40 from the right, the squeeze can bring traffic to a crawl in the best of times. During rush hour, it can back up for miles.
Now the N.C. Department of Transportation is changing things up by dropping I-40 from three lanes to two before the 15-501 interchange. The third lane will become an exit-only lane, taking traffic off onto 15-501 and leaving two lanes to pass under the bridge.
Having the high-speed left lane end creates problems on its own as the fastest-moving drivers must slow to merge into traffic, said NCDOT spokesman Aaron Moody. NCDOT has been phasing out what it calls left lane drops across the state, Moody said.
“It’s not a preferred design anymore,” he said.
The timing of the change is tied to the planned widening of I-40 from four lanes to six through Orange County between U.S. 15-501 and Interstate 85. When it begins next year, that work will take place in the median, behind concrete barriers, so contractors will eventually be shifting traffic to the right anyway, Moody said.
The transition will happen in phases over four nights this week, as NCDOT contractors repave and restripe the lanes and change the signs. The work will require some lane closures between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., Monday night through Friday morning, when the new pattern will be in place.
