I thought it was the bypass...hmm...I do suffer from old timer's disease now and then though.:jester:
I drove in from exit 325 this am and hitting 42 was a dead stop. Added 15min to my 1 hour commute. Can you tell I am thrilled with NC DOT right now?
Some of you people would be ticked off if you won the lottery because you had to pay taxes on it. Come one peeps....nothing works correctly on Day 1. Give it some time. If you dont like the bypass, then dont drive on it. At least solutions are tried. I would rather have that than people who do nothing but whine about a problem, say there must be a better way, but can not offer what that better way might be. Everything will be ok.
I agree, they have covered their bases in lip service, but I think they could stand to get rid of a few of their employees if they couldn't foresee this being a problem in time to request enough funding in the original project to cover the lane extension to White Oak. I'm sure they must've covered this type of issue in Planning 101. I hope DOT gets audited to the hilt, and then heads start to roll, and then a new wave of capable employees is hired that can actually do the math, monitor the funds, and get some great projects completed that work.
Excellent post! However, it is wrong. When the bypass started the planning stages over 15 years ago, and a few years after that the property acquisitions began...was White Oak even built/considered/though of? Nope. This bypass was not completed in 3 years. Construction yes, but from start to finish, no. There were many times during the bypass process that things like White Oak happened and all DOT could do was shake their heads and move on. The best planners in the world can not take every single potential future possibility into account. Things happen that cause other things to happen. Who knew 15 years ago that 5 billion northerners were going to move to Johnston County? Did you? But DOT was supposed to foresee all of this?
I agree they should have widened I-40 first, but they didn't (because they aren't smart enough to realize that you can't put 4 lanes of already congested traffic into 2 lanes without even more congestion than before) and according to this link to a news article on WRAL.com the plans aren't even put in place yet for widening I-40 between 70 and 42 and the plans to widen I-40 around US 1 which have been planned aren't expected to start construction until 2010 so what are we supposed to do for the next couple of years until they get around to widening I-40 that should have been done years ago? It has bottlenecked at I-40 and US1 since I started driving to RTP from Clayton in 1996. Now they have added another 15 minutes to my ride in the morning which is already an hour. Now I have 4 places that I-40 bottlenecks. Anyone know a way around I-40 to RTP? http://www.wral.com/traffic/story/2989145/
THIS IS NCDOT's problem, thay plan one project of a time, and are only concerned about what happens within their project limits. Same thing that happened when they opened the new section of I-540, and messed up the off-ramps, and have now added that project to the TIP. As for the 40 widening, note that it is under the post-years category in the TIP, and that basically means it is "UNFUNDED". Don't let them fool you , it will not be widened in the next 7-8 years unless you press this issue in the news, and by emailing or calling the NCDOT and your local legislator: 1-877 DOT 4YOU Make comments here: https://apps.dot.state.nc.us/contactus/PostComment.aspx?Unit=Dis3_Div4 or contact the board member for Division 04 PO Box 1220 Rocky Mount, NC 27802 Edgecombe, Halifax, Johnston, Nash, Wayne, Wilson Thomas A. Betts, Jr. We need to let them know that we are important enough that our voices should be heard, and that action should be taken on getting this mistake fixed before we are all old and gray!!
At least kinda, sorta, maybe, somewhat. If they start planning to widen it now and come 2023 when they begin construction perhaps things will have changed again yet keeping up with the times/traffic is part of their job.
maybe it will be done to coincide with the time frame where 540 is going to come into that interchange as well... :? Yep...about 2023 sounds right...
My boss drove in on Business 70 today from Smithfield....LOVED IT he said.....like a Sunday drive :lol:
As I understood it, the 70 bypass was part of the deal to get Sysco to locate in Selma - hence the emphasis on that piece of road and the speed of construction: http://www.smithfieldselma.com/ncsmicoc/doc.nsf/doc/news_recent_bypass.cm?Open
Well there is this little thing called the Research Triangle Park that's kinda been sucking people in for years. It won't stop until there is no land left and we are stacked on top of each other. That's what they should plan for. Yep. When Boss Hogg types saw I-40, they saw an opportunity to make big $$$. Just listen to any town council or county commissioner meeting in the area and you'll hear buzz phrases like "economic expansion" ..."job growth" ..."smart growth" ...and the unquestionable "need to attract industry". "Quality of life" now means a Wal-mart within 5 minutes and overpriced production homes on postage stamp lots. The funny thing is that Boss Hogg doesn't live on a postage stamp lot or shop at Wal-mart.
It took less than five minutes to go from the 42 exit to 70 business going into Smithfield. No excrement of any kind in sight.:mrgreen:
Clear as a whistle? Hmm I will have to think about that one. As far as I know 42 does not take you to Raleigh and RTP and thats the problem people are complaining about.
