This Week at NCDOT: State "Roadeo", East End Connector Opens and Holiday Travel

RALEIGH – The following are highlights from this week at the N.C. Department of Transportation. The stories below are also featured in NCDOT Now​, the department's weekly newscast.

State "Roadeo"

Highway division employees from across North Carolina gathered at the State Fair Grounds in Raleigh to showcase their skills at the N.C. Department of Transportation’s annual Equipment Operators Safety Training Conference, also known as “The Rodeo.”  

“The Rodeo” gave NCDOT’s equipment operators an opportunity to demonstrate how our employees put safety first and compete with their colleagues from across North Carolina. The event included six different skills competitions.  

The winners of each competition will progress to the Southeast Regional Equipment Operators Safety Training Conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, this fall. 

East End Connector Opens

On June 30, the long-awaited East End Connector opened in Durham.

The project now connects the Durham Freeway and U.S. 70, providing a stoplight-free drive between Interstates 85 and 40.  

To mark the occasion, state transportation leaders joined local and state elected officials and others for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.   

The opening coincides with a new interstate designation: I-885, which runs concurrent with U.S. 70 south from I-85 to the connector and then south on former N.C. 147 to I-40.

July 4 Travel

In preparation for the increase in holiday travel, the Governor’s Highway Safety Program has started its annual Fourth of July Booze It & Lose It campaign known as Operation Firecracker.   

As part of the campaign, the State Highway Patrol has increased its presence across North Carolina to stop or discourage unsafe drivers.   

NCDOT has also suspended most road construction projects with lane closures, to reduce traffic congestion during the busy holiday weekend.  

For more information about NCDOT Now, contact the NCDOT Communications Office at (919) 707-2660. Additional news stories from throughout the week can be found on NCDOT.gov.