6 lanes proposed for I-40 Stretch
(News and Observer – September 25, 2007)
There are new efforts this fall to get the state moving on Wake County's top road improvement priority: widening Interstate 40 between Wade Avenue in West Raleigh and U.S. 1/64 in Cary.
The state Department of Transportation figures it would cost about $60 million to make this four-lanestretch a full eight lanes wide. With highway finances tight these days, that's a lot of money.
So local government and business leaders are pushing for a more thrifty approach: Make it just six lanes for now, and save about $30 million.
"It may need eight lanes at some point, but it certainly needs more than the four lanes it has now," said Joe Milazzo II, executive director of the Regional Transportation Alliance, a business advocacy group. "And $30 million's cheaper than $60 million."
Each day as many as 106,000 cars and trucks squeeze through the four-mile bottleneck. The Triangle's worst rush-hour jams happen on that stretch.
According to a rough estimate offered by Milazzo's group and checked by DOT engineers, it would cost $28.7 million to add two more lanes on the wide, green median -- making it six lanes, three each way.
The cost rises to $31 million if the new six-lane freeway is equipped with bridges wide enough for eight lanes. That step would cut costs on the inevitable expansion in the future.
Last week, the local transportation planning board endorsed the half-price version. The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization sent its road improvement priorities to DOT, with a six-lane I-40 widening at the top of the list.