Project Overview
Traffic Information
What's traffic like in the I-440 & Blue Ridge Road Improvements project area?
This segment has four lanes and forms a bottleneck between the six through lanes at both ends, causing traffic congestion, which is forecast to increase. Changes include widening from four to six lanes (three in each direction), replace pavement and bridges, and upgrades to interchanges.
Built in the 1960s, it is also the oldest section of I-440 and needs rehabilitation. The roadway and interchanges have substandard design elements, such as poor sight lines, narrow shoulders and medians, and short acceleration and deceleration lanes.
The widening of I-440 will coincide with lowering the grade of Blue Ridge Road and constructing new bridges for Hillsborough Street (N.C. 54), Norfolk Southern Railway/North Carolina Railroad/CSX Transportation, and Beryl Road to reduce traffic congestion and train-related conflicts with vehicles and pedestrians. A new connector road will link Blue Ridge Road and Hillsborough Street.
Blue Ridge Road will be closed on either side of the railroad tracks just south of Hillsborough Street starting in October 2022. This closure will be in place and expand further away from the railroad tracks through the time it is expected to be lifted, in fall 2024. Hillsborough Street is also scheduled to close at Blue Ridge Road for several months starting in early 2023.
Project Funding
This project is listed as U-2719 and U-4437 in the
N.C. Department of Transportation's State Transportation Improvement Program and was awarded to The Lane Construction Corporation for a total contract price of $346.2 million.