Skip to main content

I-40 and I-440 Signage Changes Around Raleigh

Image
By
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This is on Wade Avenue approaching the I-440 interchange, the previous 'Inner' and 'Outer' designations have been replaced by 'East' and 'West.'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/
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

By
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...
4 comments
Read more

Massena Center Suspension Bridge

By
The Massena Center Bridge, also known as the Holton D. Robinson Bridge, has had quite the tumultuous history. Situated on the Grasse River just east of Massena, New York in the hamlet of Massena Center, the Massena Center Bridge is a reminder of the efforts the community has made in order to connect over the river. The first and only other known bridge to be built at Massena Center was built in 1832, but that bridge was never long for this world. During the spring of 1833, the Grasse River dammed itself due to an ice dam, flooded and lifted the bridge off its foundation, destroying the bridge in the process.  The floods were frequent in the river during the spring, often backing up the river from Hogansburg and past Massena Center, but not to nearby Massena. After the first bridge disappeared, local residents had to resort to traveling seven miles west to Massena to cross the next closest bridge, and that was no easy task for a horse and buggy. However, it was many decades befo...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Dead Man's Curve of Interstate 90 and Innerbelt Freeway in Cleveland

By
"Dead Man's Curve" refers to the transition ramp Interstate 90 takes between Cleveland Memorial Shoreway onto the Innerbelt Freeway in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.  Said curve includes a sharp transition between the two freeways which is known for a high rate of accidents.  Currently the curve (not officially named) has a 35 MPH advisory speed and numerous safety features intended to mitigate crashes.  When the Interstate System was first conceived during 1956, Interstate 90 was intended to use the entirety Cleveland Memorial Shoreway and connect to the Northwest Freeway through Lakewood.  The Innerbelt Freeway was initially planned as the northernmost segment of Interstate 71.  The extension of Cleveland Memorial Shoreway west of Edgewater Park was never constructed which led to Interstate 90 being routed through the Innerbelt Freeway.   Part 1; the history of Cleveland's Innerbelt Freeway and Deadman's Curve The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signe...
Post a Comment
Read more