Complete 540 Project Visualization - from NCDOT Feb 2018

If you go to goggle maps and look at ramp from US 70 west bypass to I 40 east that is closed, it shows reopening Sept 2023. With most/all bridges and storm drain done, basically down to grading /stone/paving left that seems about right.

 

BYP-70 East new on ramp open (6-12-23) - YouTube

New ramp from 40 to 70 bypass open. I think both 40 east and west.

 

August 2023 update from Buckeye Drones

 

I think you meant to post the August video

 

I fixed it. I didn't realize I had posted the wrong video. Thanks!

 

Great progress! Thanks for posting

 

https://www.heraldsun.com/news/local/article279609064.html

Construction of the final leg of the Outer Loop around Raleigh will begin as soon as next year. The N.C. Department of Transportation and the N.C. Turnpike Authority have awarded the first of two construction contracts to complete N.C. 540, also known as the Triangle Expressway, between Interstate 40 and Interstate 87. They expect to award the second contract later this year, putting the highway on schedule to open in 2028, according to NCDOT.
When that happens, the six-lane Triangle Expressway toll road will be complete from Research Triangle Park across southern Wake County to Knightdale. N.C. 540 will connect with Interstate 540, which completes the Outer Loop across northern Wake. Work on an 18-mile section of N.C. 540 across southern Wake began in 2019. When it opens next year, it will extend the expressway from N.C. 55 in Apex to a massive interchange with I-40 and U.S. 70 near the Johnston County line.
NCDOT has broken the final 10-mile section into two projects. The first contract, awarded this week to a joint venture of Flatiron and the Fred Smith Company, is for $450 million to build six miles of road from south of Rock Quarry Road to I-87. The second contract for the remaining four miles is expected to come to about $350 million. A few years ago, NCDOT didn’t expect to have money to begin work on the final leg of the loop until 2029 or later.
But the Turnpike Authority was able to get a single environmental permit for the road from Apex to Knightdale, allowing the state to get started with utility work, such as moving a Duke Energy power line and a Federal Aviation Administration tower, said authority spokesman Logen Hodges. That pre-construction work, coupled with strong local support and expected toll revenues, helped the project move up NCDOT’s list of priorities, Hodges said.

 

wow, thats exciting and unexpected news.

 

4 years of construction nearly complete; three-fourths of I-540 loop around Raleigh will be done in 2024 (wral.com)

To go along with Jesse written report above.

 

That's great but why do we have to pay a toll yet North Raleigh has never?

 

Previously, you couldn't easily have a toll on an Interstate Highway in NC. Not sure if that law has changed. But that is why the tolled part is NC540 and not I540. I540 was from federal funds.

 

I always said if they had made 540 a toll say from 401- 40 when it first opened the rest could’ve been done by now and at a cheaper cost. Even when the toll section was first opened thru western Cary -Holly springs it was like a ghost town for quite some time before there was a lot of vehicles using it.

 

Buckeye Drones November 2023 update.

 

Looking like spring 2024 is realistic. But it is DOT...

 

NC-540 (Mar 2024) (youtube.com)
updated drone flyover

 

What would be nice is to see drone video from I-40 up to the Knightdale area where it connects to the already existing area

 

There's nothing there yet. I don't think the first tree has even been removed yet. Or, is that what you're wanting to see?

 

I appreciate these drone updates. I'm usually quite optimistic, but I just can't see this portion being done by the end of the year - which is what they're predicting, correct?

 

DOT still says "mid-2024", but yeah, I also don't see how that can happen.