Skip to main content

Before the Dirt Flies on the Triangle Expressway

A recent news report indicated that there has been a delay in starting construction of the Triangle Expressway, the future toll portion of the 540 loop around Raleigh and connector between I-40 in Research Triangle park and 540. They blamed it on some permitting issues (maybe there now too close to NCDOT and inheriting their working traits). This gave me some time to take some 'before' photos at least along the corridor of the future Triangle Parkway that will run between I-40 and what is now the Davis Drive exit on NC 540. Starting at the northern end, or beginning:
This is current NC 147 South before it takes the curve to end at Alexander Drive. The Parkway will go straight and the connection to Alexander will be eliminated. If you see the gravel on the left, this was the only sign of construction I saw along the corridor. The following photos show the ending of NC 147 at Alexander that will be removed:
The stoplight at Alexander with signage common in Research Triangle Park. You can reach NC 54 and Davis Drive going to the right.
The soon to be late connection to the Durham freeway as it appears heading SW on Alexander.

Another look at the only new Parkway related construction I saw heading North on NC 147:
This may have been dug up to aide survey teams. The Parkway will cut across the photo probably starting near the I-40 sign and to its rear.

Heading on NC 540 West, the only signs of impending construction are new orange signs:
These signs are just beyond the exit ramp for the Exit 69, NC 54.
According to these signs the construction zone will begin just before the current Davis Drive exit ramp. The current access to Davis Drive will be changed and access will become part of the Triangle Parkway interchange built between the current off- and on-ramps.
This is the large open gap (about 1/2 mile) between the current ramps from Davis Drive is for use as part of the continuation of the Triangle Expressway onto NC 540 west as part of the continuation of the Triangle Expressway.
From the 'End Construction' sign you can see beyond the NC 55 exit sign, it appears, for now anyway, construction on this end anyway will concentrate on building the Triangle Parkway and not the Western Wake Freeway, the extension of NC 540.

As if there's any more evidence no construction has started:
This is the western end of NC 540. The site of the August groundbreaking can be seen on the left side. The access road and the ceremonial dirt put up next to where the stage was built still sitting there.

Finally here's where traffic on NC 55 will access the toll route west, then south toward Apex:
I will be back to this area, once the constant Turnpike Authority phrase "Construction could start in the next couple weeks" rings true.

Comments

brett said…
i've seen several times that the current end of 147 at alexander dr will be closed when the freeway is extended. but what if they did this instead: 1) close the northbound lanes entirely; 2) leave the southbound lanes open as an exit from 147 south to alexander dr.; 3) construct an entrance ramp from alexander dr. to 147 south at the current intersection; 4) construct an exit/entrance pair (entrance being a long loop) to and from northbound 147 to 54, maybe with the ramps ending at the intersection with park circle dr. 1/4 mile east of where 54 passes over 147. the latter may be too close to i-40 to be safe but the former shouldn't be a problem, eh? has anyone thought of this idea before? it could help mobility around not only south durham but also that section of rtp and keep maybe a small amount of traffic off of i-40.
Anonymous said…
Anyone here know whether they're going to reconstruct the exit from South NC 147 to East I-40 to a flyover and right entrance instead of the horrid left entrance? Or would that be in conflict with the nearby Davis Drive exit?
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Popular posts from this blog

Old River Lock & Control Structure (Lettsworth, LA)

  The Old River Control Structure (ORCS) and its connecting satellite facilities combine to form one of the most impressive flood control complexes in North America. Located along the west bank of the Mississippi River near the confluence with the Red River and Atchafalaya River nearby, this structure system was fundamentally made possible by the Flood Control Act of 1928 that was passed by the United States Congress in the aftermath of the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927 however a second, less obvious motivation influenced the construction here. The Mississippi River’s channel has gradually elongated and meandered in the area over the centuries, creating new oxbows and sandbars that made navigation of the river challenging and time-consuming through the steamboat era of the 1800s. This treacherous area of the river known as “Turnbull’s Bend” was where the mouth of the Red River was located that the upriver end of the bend and the Atchafalaya River, then effectively an outflow

Memphis & Arkansas Bridge (Memphis, TN)

  Like the expansion of the railroads the previous century, the modernization of the country’s highway infrastructure in the early and mid 20th Century required the construction of new landmark bridges along the lower Mississippi River (and nation-wide for that matter) that would facilitate the expected growth in overall traffic demand in ensuing decades. While this new movement had been anticipated to some extent in the Memphis area with the design of the Harahan Bridge, neither it nor its neighbor the older Frisco Bridge were capable of accommodating the sharp rise in the popularity and demand of the automobile as a mode of cross-river transportation during the Great Depression. As was the case 30 years prior, the solution in the 1940s was to construct a new bridge in the same general location as its predecessors, only this time the bridge would be the first built exclusively for vehicle traffic. This bridge, the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge, was completed in 1949 and was the third

California State Route 203 the proposed Minaret Summit Highway

California State Route 203 is an approximately nine-mile State Highway located near Mammoth Lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Mono County.  California State Route 203 as presently configured begins at US Route 395, passes through Mammoth Lakes and terminates at the Madera County line at Minaret Summit.  What is now California State Route 203 was added to the State Highway System in 1933 as Legislative Route Number 112.  The original Mammoth Lakes State Highway ended at Lake Mary near the site of Old Mammoth and was renumbered to California State Route 203 in 1964.  The modern alignment of the highway to Minaret Summit was adopted during 1967.   The corridor of Minaret Summit and Mammoth Pass have been subject to numerous proposed Trans-Sierra Highways.  The first corridor was proposed over Mammoth Pass following a Southern Pacific Railroad survey in 1901.  In 1931 a corridor between the Minarets Wilderness and High Sierra Peaks Wilderness was reserved by the Forest Service for po