A ramp from Hillsborough Street onto the Raleigh Beltline is closed for the summer
Drivers who want to go from Hillsborough Street onto the Beltline toward Wade Avenue and North Raleigh will have to take a detour this summer.
The ramp that carries traffic from Hillsborough onto eastbound Interstate 440 is closed until late August, as construction on the Beltline widening project enters a new phase.
Drivers wishing to go eastbound on the Beltline will be directed to use either Blue Ridge Road or Faircloth Street to get to the Wade Avenue interchange. The exit ramp from eastbound I-440 to Hillsborough Street will remain open until August, when it will close for several days.
Those headed westbound on the Beltline toward Cary can still get on and off at Hillsborough Street.
Several changes will take place while the Hillsborough Street ramp is closed.
▪ Traffic on westbound I-440 will shift onto new bridges over Wade Avenue and Hillsborough Street.
▪ Eastbound I-440 traffic will also shift onto the new bridge over Hillsborough Street.
▪ A new flyover bridge carrying traffic from eastbound I-440 to westbound Wade Avenue toward I-40 will open.
▪ A new exit from eastbound I-440 onto Hillsborough Street will open.
All of this work should be completed by Aug. 26, when the on ramp that closed this week is scheduled to reopen.
As for the overall project, it’s not scheduled to be finished until the fall of 2025. That’s more than two years later than expected when the work got started in 2019.
Several factors have contributed to the delays, according to NCDOT and the contractors doing the work. Weather, the COVID-19 pandemic and shortages of workers and materials all played a role, said NCDOT spokeswoman Kim Deaner.
NCDOT is widening a four-mile stretch of the Beltline from Wade Avenue to I-40 near Cary, from four lanes to six. It’s also reconfiguring and rebuilding interchanges at Wade, Hillsborough, Western Boulevard and Jones Franklin Road.
The widening of I-440 coincides with the building of an underpass to carry Blue Ridge Road under Hillsborough Street and the N.C. Railroad tracks near the N.C. State Fairgrounds. The Blue Ridge Road underpass isn’t expected to be completed until the end of next year.
This story was originally published May 29, 2024 at 11:10 AM.
