Years in the works, construction of southern leg of Triangle Expressway begins Monday
Contractors are scheduled to begin work Monday on the new highway interchange south of Garner that will connect Interstate 40 and U.S. 70 with a new, six-lane toll road that will cross southern Wake County.
The new 18-mile segment of the Triangle Expressway, also known as N.C. 540, will run between this 650-acre interchange and N.C. 55 in Apex, extending the toll road that begins at I-40 near Research Triangle Park. The $2.2 billion stretch of highway is expected to open by the end of 2023.
State and local officials gathered Wednesday where the 540 pavement now ends near Holly Springs to celebrate the start of construction on what the N.C. Turnpike Authority and the Department of Transportation call the Complete 540 project. They thanked the advocates who pressed for the highway over the years and the planners who arranged for the financing and the state and federal permits needed to get started.
“I’ve been dreaming about this day for 15 years,” said Robert Teer Jr., a long-time member of the Turnpike Authority’s governing board.
Transportation Secretary Jim Trogdon publicly thanked Kym Hunter, an attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center in Chapel Hill, who represented three environmental groups that had gone to court to try to stop the highway. Trogdon said Hunter approached NCDOT to negotiate a settlement that will cost the state millions for added environmental protections but kept the two sides out of court.
“That agreement allows us to move forward with this project, in fragile environments, that protect what the communities value at the same time delivering this critical connector that the region has wanted for, as you’ve already heard, more than 15 years,” Trogdon said.
Several Wake County mayors also joined the groundbreaking ceremony, including Dick Sears of Holly Springs and John Byrne of Fuquay-Varina. Both noted that their residents welcome the highway, even if many aren’t thrilled that their segment of the Outer Loop is a toll road.
“It’s either toll road or no road,” Byrne said. “What people have really settled with is our whole region is growing and the toll road has value to us. You can tell from the growth that we’ve had here that 540 has really been one of the driving factors and will continue to be a driving factor in southern Wake County.”
Completion of the southern leg of the Triangle Expressway will leave a 10.8-mile stretch in the southeast corner to build. The contract for final designs and construction of that leg, between I-40 and U.S. 64/264 in Knightdale, isn’t expected to be awarded until 2029.
How we got here
Some version of a loop highway around Raleigh has appeared on planning maps since the 1980s. Here are some milestones:
1992: Construction begins on the first segment of the Outer Loop, known as the Northern Wake Expressway, which will eventually arc across North Raleigh, connecting U.S. 64 in Knightdale with I-40 near RTP. Long-range maps show the loop circling Wake County, but the other segments aren’t expected to be built until sometime in the 21st century.
1996-1997: Using the power granted by the Map Act, NCDOT establishes a 12-mile protected corridor for the southern section of the loop, between N.C. 55 Bypass in Apex and I-40 near the Wake-Johnston county line. Property owners in the corridor can use and sell their property, but they can’t develop or build anything that will significantly increase the state’s cost to acquire the property later.
December 1999: The first 2.5-mile segment of the Outer Loop, also known as Interstate 540, opens between U.S. 70 and Leesville Road.
December 2005: When it appears the western leg of the Outer Loop won’t be built until 2012 and the southern leg until after 2030, five Wake County mayors ask the N.C. Turnpike Authority to consider making those parts of the loop toll roads to speed up construction.
August 2009: Construction begins on the western leg of the loop, now known as the Triangle Expressway, from RTP to Holly Springs. The Turnpike Authority borrowed $1.01 billion in bonds and a federal loan to build and operate the TriEx, to be repaid with tolls. The state highway is also known as N.C. 540 to distinguish it from I-540, the section of the Outer Loop without tolls.
Fall 2009: The Turnpike Authority begins an environmental study for the southern and eastern legs of the Outer Loop, which will also be developed as toll roads.
September 2010: NCDOT planners present alternatives to the long-planned route for the southern leg of the loop, which appears as the Orange Route on NCDOT maps. Among the routes in other colors is a Red Route that passes north of Lake Benson and splits Garner. NCDOT says it is obligated by federal law to consider alternatives to its first choice.
March 2011: Responding to the outcry from residents, the General Assembly passes a bill that forbids NCDOT from considering the Red Route.
December 2011: The first sections of the Triangle Expressway open near RTP. About a year later, the road is opened from I-40 to N.C. 55 in Apex, near Holly Springs.
June 2013: After the Federal Highway Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tell NCDOT that it must study all alternatives for N.C. 540, including the Red Route, the General Assembly removes the restrictions on considering the route. NCDOT resumes its environmental study.
June 2016: The state Supreme Court agrees with landowners and rules The Map Act is an unconstitutional taking of private property without compensation. It will take months and further orders from local courts and the state Court of Appeals before NCDOT begins settling individual suits brought by property owners affected by the law.
December 2017: The Federal Highway Administration approves the final environmental impact study for the six-lane toll road from N.C. 55 in Apex to U.S. 64/264 in Knightdale. The project, known as Complete 540, is expected to cost $2.24 billion.
May 2018: Three environmental groups sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, saying the agency did not adequately consider N.C. 540’s impact on two endangered species of mussels that live in southern Wake County.
June 2018: The Federal Highway Administration gives its final approval for the 28.4-mile route of the Triangle Expressway across southern Wake County. NCDOT is now free to seek environmental and other permits for the project. The environmental groups expand their lawsuit to include NCDOT, the Federal Highway Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service and to explain why they think the highway is unnecessary and would harm the environment more broadly than the endangered mussels.
November 2018: NCDOT awards the first of three construction contracts to build the southern leg of N.C. 540.
August 2019: The environmental groups agree to drop their lawsuit seeking to stop the highway, in exchange for several concessions from NCDOT, including millions spent for land conservation.
November 2019: Groundbreaking ceremony for the southern leg of Triangle Expressway.
This story was originally published November 13, 2019 at 5:26 PM.
