Skip to main content

April Tri-Ex Progress Roadtrip Report

As Adam indicated in his previous photo post, we were out Saturday (4/10) checking on the progress of the Triangle Expressway, the Future Toll portions of NC 540 and NC 147. The trip went in the opposite direction as before, so this progress report will start with...
1. The Western Wake Freeway (NC 540):
As seen from the current end of NC 540 looking west, there has been some substantial work on grading the road and the start of installing bridges since our last visit in February:
Both cement and steel bridge supports can be seen. They have piled the material needed for the next bridge project on the median between the unopened lanes of NC 540:
The first major road closure will occur tomorrow (4/12) as explained in this message sign:
McCrimmon Parkway will be closed as a bridge is put in to take the parkway over the freeway.
Here's a view of what they will have to remove:
The parkway is behind the guardrail. The photo was taken from the edge of the Panther Creek High School stadium access road. The stadium bleachers will have a good view of construction, and of the toll road traffic, after completion. Here's the view looking toward NC 55 from where the Parkway bridge will be constructed:
As you can see on the left, there has already been a start to landscaping the highway. The tracks to the right are how contractor vehicles enter and leave the roadbed (with drivers to busy to return a wave). The photo below looks the other direction, south of McCrimmon Parkway:
It appears they are starting bridge construction along the highway in the distance. The cement slab at bottom right is part of a culvert they are building, closeup photo below:
Since last February, construction, has proceeded across Carpenter Fire Station Road in Cary and further south toward US 64. The photo below is looking south along Carpenter...
Here's a view to the north:
As construction moves along, we have tried to find parking areas that are best to observe the construction. The newest one we found is the parking lot for the relatively new USA Baseball complex, here's a photo of the future toll road taken walking from the parking lot to within the toll road's right-of-way:
While most of the construction ends about here, around the curve behind the hill of dirt...
Clearing continues south past Green Level Road East where the contractor has cleared enough space for an office trailer and parking lot for employee vehicles. This is where the first interchange south of NC 55 will be built. The most interesting items in this area are that some houses have not been cleared but are apparently being used by the fire department for training exercises. Here's one that's been mostly burned down:
The tree clearing stops south of Green Level, a little more than a mile north of US 64, the next major route to be affected by the West Wake Freeway construction.

2. The Triangle Parkway (NC 147)
We saw less progress here than on the NC 540 portion, surprising, since this section is only 3 miles long and is supposed to be complete next year. There were some signs of progress at the southern end, as seen below from the current NC 540 Davis Drive offramp:
Some initial construction work and clearing has gone north of here. You can view additional clearing that has taken place south of Davis Drive as it curves back toward Hopson Road:
However, little progress can be seen to the north as viewed from the future Hopson Road bridge and interchange:
Which appears similar to the photos of the area taken in February, except that one of the construction trailers has been moved. A clue to the lack of progress may be seen south of Hopson...
Where currently the high-power electric transmission poles and lines appear to be in the future parkway's right-of-way. Whether this is according to schedule, or is due to a delay in talks with the power company, is not known. Any lag in progress here may threaten to delay the planned opening date of 2011.
They are making progress at the northern end where the current NC 147 meets its future pathway:
The grade has been cut down to meet the current roadway and it appears work on a culvert is starting where the two cranes are located. There is also construction starting along current NC 147 southbound by the I-40 interchange. I will try to find out whether there is any problems that would cause a delay in constructing the parkway before the next update in late May.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Chowchilla Mountain Road to Yosemite National Park

Chowchilla Mountain Road of Mariposa County is one of the oldest roadways servicing Yosemite National Park.  As presently configured this fourteen-mile highway begins at California State Route 49 near Elliot Corner and terminates at the Wawona Road in Yosemite National Park.  Chowchilla Mountain Road was constructed as a franchise toll road over Battalion Pass circa 1869-1870.  The highway was built at behest of Galen Clark to connect the town of Mariposa to his property near the South Fork Merced River at what is now Wawona.   In late 1874 the highway along with Clark’s Station would be purchased by the Washburn Brothers.  The Washburn Brothers would continue to toll Chowchilla Mountain Road as part of their Yosemite Stage Route lines.  The highway would ultimately become a Mariposa County public highway in 1917.  Mariposa would later be more directly linked with Yosemite Valley in 1926 following the completion of the Yosemite All-Year Highwa...

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

Angus L. Macdonald Bridge

At 1.3 kilometers (or about 0.84 miles) in length, the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge is one of two bridges crossing over the Halifax Harbour between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with the other bridge being the A. Murray Mackay Bridge . Opened in 1955 and named after former Nova Scotia Premier and Canadian Minister of Defense for Naval Services Angus L. Macdonald, the Macdonald Bridge was the first bridge that crossed Halifax Harbour that was opened to traffic. The Macdonald Bridge was also the subject of the Big Lift, which was only the second time in history that the span of a suspension bridge were replaced while the bridge was open to traffic. Planning began in 2010 for the Big Lift, while construction took place between 2015 and 2017. Similar work occurred on the Lion's Gate Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia before the project took place on the Macdonald Bridge. At this time, much of the bridge infrastructure is new, leaving only the towers, main cables and...