USDOT loans $384 million for Triangle Expressway

Another piece of the complex financing puzzle for the Triangle Expressway (NC 540) fell into place today, as the US Department of Transportation signed off on a $384 million load for construction of the toll road.

This along with two other pieces - $600 million in bond sales (which have just been recently put on the market) and from an annual $25 million in 'gap financing' in the North Carolina budget. the total cost of the 12.6 toll road about $1.1 billion.

The loan comes from the USDOT's Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan program. The Triangle Expressway's tolls will help to repay that loan.

The hope is to start construction later this year - maybe as soon as August (though that line has been used for two or three straight years now) - with completion of the Durham Freeway/I-40 connector by 2012 and the entire highway by 2013.

We'll see how accurate those dates are.

Story Links w/video:
$384M loan approved for Triangle Expressway's future ---News14Carolina
Money approved to extend I-540 ---WTVD-TV

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The story on how the unbuilt US 40 Expressway in Brownsville took 40 years to complete.

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