Skip to main content

I-40 and I-440 Signage Changes Around Raleigh

I promised in my earlier post that I'd put additional photos in a future entry regarding signage changes along I-40 in Raleigh. These changes are taking place with the re-designation of I-440 as an East-West route across the top of Raleigh and its discontinuance on I-40. NCDOT had a press release last week saying they had completed the I-440 re-signing. Here are some photos taken in January showing examples:
This is on Wade Avenue approaching the I-440 interchange, the previous 'Inner' and 'Outer' designations have been replaced by 'East' and 'West.'
Here's a closeup of the second sign in the interchange. Another 3 control city sign. The trivia about this sign is that only 1 of the cities (Wake Forest) does either of these routes go to. The other destinations might be more appropriate on a I-40 US 64 sign, since you need to get on 64.
This is signage along the roadway itself, all that was done here is place an 'East' panel over the I-440 shield.

Now for sign changes on I-40 itself. I took a detour further east on I-40 from I-440 East down to Jones Sausage Road (brief pause for any snickering) and back to see signage on I-40 West approaching the Beltline. The first sign is:
The construction signage does not relate to the signage project but an ongoing paving job on I-440. Notice the lack of control cities. A 1/2 mile further this is the next sign:
This sign assembly has both a new sign for I-40 and a revised sign for I-40, notice the only control city is Durham. Is this to help or warn drivers? It's the same for the next signs assembly as seen in the previous post:
They've left the previous ground signs telling people to use 440 for north and east Raleigh and I-40 for south and west Raleigh, but an overhead sign might be more helpful. While these are definite changes from the previous signs, not all has been changed along the I-40 portion, like:
This assembly I assume has been there since I-40 was connected to the Beltline and has survived several route changes, additions, and now subtractions. How long will it remain?
As for the signing of I-40 after the merge, there are new I-40 and US 64 signage:
These are new signs, but they don't follow the recent NCDOT practice of putting route shields with more than one designation on green signage. Maybe this contract has been put off for so long it still was using the old specifications. As for the rest of I-40/US 64 there have been some new signs, but, at least westbound, not too many. The signage where I-40 meets I-440 again has not changed.

I also took some photos related to the I-40 widening project in Cary which begins at the end of West I-440 and continues to Wade Avenue:
Barriers have been placed to protect workers in the median and bringing the new lanes down to grade has begun. To speed up the process NCDOT's contractor is using a conveyor system:
To take the dirt and rock from the median over the highway to awaiting trucks. Another conveyor belt will take asphalt to the site when the roadbeds are completed. It appears workers are concentrating their efforts now between Wade Avenue and the NC 54 exit due to the presumed convenient location of the porta-potty:
This design-build project is supposed to be completed by the end of June 2011. If you would like more information go to the official NCDOT site at: http://www.ncdot.gov/projects/I4744/

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ghost Town Tuesday; Mannfield, FL and the stairway to Hell

Back in 2015 I went searching the Lecanto Sand Hills for the original Citrus County Seat known as Mannfield.  Unlike Centrailia in Hernando County and Fivay in Pasco County I did find something worth seeing. Mannfield is located in the Lecanto Sand Hill section of Withlacoochee State Forest somewhat east of the intersection of Citrus County Route 491 and Mansfield Road. Mannfield was named after Austin Mann and founded in Hernando County in 1884 before Citrus County Split away.  In 1887 Citrus County was split from northern Hernando County while Pasco County was spun off to the south.  Mannfield was selected as the new Citrus County seat due to it being near the county geographic center.  Reportedly Mannfield had as many as 250 people when it was the County Seat.  The town included various businesses one might include at the time, even a sawmill which was common for the area.  In 1891 Citrus County voted to move it's seat to Inverness which set the s...

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...

The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and temporary Hawaii Route 11

The 1959 Gousha Road map of Hawaii features two largely unknown references in the form of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11.  Both corridors are shown running from the boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park east to Glenwood via Volcano Village.  At the time Hawaii Route 11 was using the so-called "Volcano Road" which was constructed as a modernization of Mamalahoa Highway during 1927-1928.  This blog will examine the two map references and will attempt to determine what they might indicate.  The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11 Hawaii Route 11 is part of Mamalahoa Highway (the Hawaii Belt Road) and is the longest Hawaiian State Route at 121.97 miles.  The highway begins at the mutual junction of Hawaii Route 19 and Hawaii Route 190 in Kailua-Kona.  From Kailua-Kona the routing of Hawaii Route 11 crosses the volcanic landscapes of southern side of the Big Island.  Hawaii Route 11 terminates at Hawaii Route 19/Ka...