RALEIGH, N.C. – Drivers on Thursday said they hope four years of construction slowdowns on I-440 will be worth it.
- The project will widen I-440 to six lanes between Wade Avenue and Walnut Street
- Construction is slated to begin this month
- The project will last until the summer of 2023
NCDOT officials say the section of I-440 between Wade Avenue in Raleigh and Walnut Street in Cary is the last remaining four-lane section of the highway. It dates to 1960. District 5 Engineer Joey Hopkins said this creates a bottleneck, especially for traffic coming up from the south. Within the next week or two, Hopkins said construction crews will begin widening the highway to six lanes. He said crews will also rebuild interchanges and extend entrance ramps, which do not meet modern safety standards.
Raleigh resident Michi Vojta said finding alternate routes will be a challenge for a while. She said the finished product looked good on paper and she hopes it works as intended.
Hopkins said work will begin by the middle of August and is slated to last until the summer of 2023. He said drivers should expect lane closures during off-peak hours, but workers will keep at least two lanes open in each direction during rush hour.
