NC fair visitors will again navigate orange barrels. When will roads be finished?
The N.C. State Fair that opens this week will be the sixth one to coincide with the reconstruction of the Raleigh Beltline nearby. And it will be the last.
The widening of Interstate 440 to six lanes between Wade Avenue and Interstate 40 will be substantially complete by the end of the year, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation. Only some minor work and landscaping will be left to be done in early 2026.
But the construction of an underpass to carry Blue Ridge Road under Hillsborough Street and the adjoining railroad tracks near the fairgrounds will continue through this State Fair and the next.
Work on the underpass began after the closing of the State Fair in 2022. NCDOT had hoped it would be completed in time for the 2024 fair.
Now NCDOT doesn’t expect Blue Ridge to open under Hillsborough Street before the spring of 2027. The department says several factors have caused the delays, including the additional coordination and review needed to work next to a busy passenger and freight rail corridor, said NCDOT spokeswoman Kim Deaner.
“They’re very particular, as they need to be,” Deaner said of the railroads that use the tracks. “You just don’t walk around willy-nilly near a railroad that’s active.”
Another big factor, Deaner said, was the condition of the soil under the temporary and permanent railroad tracks at the site. The railroads determined the soil was not dense enough to support trains long term, so contractors had to dig it out and replace it with stone, Deaner said.
The underpass will replace what was the most complex intersection in North Carolina. In the span of a few dozen yards, Blue Ridge Road crossed Hillsborough Street, the railroad tracks and Beryl Road. To keep everything moving took 11 phases of traffic signals, the most of any intersection in the state, according to NCDOT.
Creating the underpass meant building three parallel bridges. The Hillsborough Street bridge opened in the fall of 2023, and the new Beryl Road bridge is expected to open this week.
To build the railroad ridge, contractors first had to shift trains onto a set of temporary tracks. The new railroad bridge is expected to be finished next spring and ready for the railroad to build the permanent tracks, Deaner said. Trains should begin using it next summer.
That will allow contractors to finish digging the path for Blue Ridge Road under all three new bridges. The underpass will include a path for pedestrians and cyclists, making it easier to reach the fairgrounds from the south side of Beryl Road.
The underpass and the rebuilding of the Beltline are part of one $415 million project, because NCDOT figured it would be easier for one contractor to coordinate the work.
Beltline reconstruction two years behind schedule
Construction on the Beltline has also taken longer than planned. Work began in late summer 2019 and was expected to be finished by the end of 2023. NCDOT cites several setbacks, including the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on labor and supplies and delays in obtaining right-of-way and moving utilities.
Still ahead, contractors must build the median barrier wall between Hillsborough and Wade and finish the exit and entrance ramps along eastbound I-440 from Western Boulevard to Wade.
The highway should be in its final pattern by the end of the year, Deaner said.
“We’ll see lanes open, and people will be happier,” she said. “But there will be a few things left to do as they head into spring.”
The four miles of highway between Wade and I-40 dates to the early 1960s and was the oldest segment of the Beltline.
It was also the only four-lane section left and had interchanges that weren’t designed for today’s traffic. In addition to widening the road to six lanes, NCDOT reconfigured the interchanges at Wade, Hillsborough, Western and Jones Franklin Road.
This story was originally published October 14, 2025 at 11:10 AM.
