I-40 near Cary Crossroads in Wake County to get major overhaul in effort to ease congestion: NCDOT

The NCDOT is looking to ease congestion at the busiest interchange in all of Wake County, and also widen a highly trafficked interstate that tens of thousands of drivers travel each day.

The first proposal would widen 1-40 from Lake Wheeler Road to the 1-40-440 interchange.
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The second option would reconfigure the interchange by Cary Crossroads.

The combined projects are going to cost taxpayers more than a quarter of a billion dollars.

The change could make life easier for those living and working in the area

Patrick Burham lives on the Raleigh-Cary border. He finds himself daily sitting in traffic on 1-40 and fighting to change lanes at the busy interchange near Cary Crossroads.



"Especially since Raleigh's growing and all the next tech that's coming here, it's only going to get more congested," he said.
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Lisa Jackowitz also lives near the 1-40 and 1-440 interchange and welcomes an easier ride.

"That probably would be a good option to get traffic flowing a little bit better," she said.

The projects have a scheduled construction start date in 2025.

NCDOT Division Engineer Brandon Jones says the investment and work is almost necessary to handle the booming population.

Right now, more than a 100,000 thousand vehicles are crossing the corridor each day in either direction. The number is projected to more than double in 20 years.
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"It (the project) has regional impacts. It stretches beyond just this locality," said Jones.



The DOT is encouraging people to submit their comments on the proposals through March 28.

Last fall, NCDOT announced a major facelift for I-440 from Wake Forest Road to Wade Avenue. The project is scheduled to start spring of 2023 and be completed by the summer of 2024.