Beltline paving won't affect traffic, NCDOT says

Crews began paving the lanes inside barrier walls that are already up between the I-40/440 split north to beyond the Poole Road exit. Traffic will continue to maintain a two-lane pattern outside the barriers until paving is completed on the section by the end of the summer.

At that time, traffic will be shifted to the newly paved lanes while crews pave the exterior lanes.

Crews from Granite Construction are recycling the old asphalt removed from the highway and incorporation it into the new pavement mix. By using reclaimed asphalt, the need for virgin materials is lowered by 30 percent, officials said.

The recycled asphalt is being fed into machines at the asphalt plant built to support the project. It will produce nearly 2,500 tons of asphalt per day.

The state began work on Fortify, a three-year, multimillion-dollar project to rebuild 11.5 miles of Raleigh’s Beltline, in January.