I-540 Work Snarls Holiday Shoppers

Raleigh, N.C. — State transportation officials, taking advantage of unseasonably warm weather to speed work on a new section of Interstate 540, unintentionally put coal in the stockings of some holiday shoppers Saturday.

Traffic backed up as far as two miles from the Capital Boulevard exit after workers closed the exit to Capital Boulevard northbound and limited the southbound exit to one lane. The southbound exit takes shoppers toward several retail outlets, including Triangle Towne Center.

The workers were paving the part of I-540 that will extend from U.S. 1 in North Raleigh eastward to the new U.S. 64/264 Bypass in Knightdale.

Paving is difficult in cold weather, and state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Lisa Cowley said officials decided late Friday to mobilize paving crews because of the unusually warm weather that is predicted to last through Tuesday.

"During this time of year, it’s very unusual for us to get a window of opportunity to pave as we have over this past week, and into this weekend," said Reese Briley, NCDOT resident engineer for the project.

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I live near knightdale and am glad the DOT had a break in the weather to do some paving. I can't wait until I can take 540 to the mall just like the folks in Durham and western Wake do. Did any of you complainers stuck in traffic ever watch or read the news? It was a nice day out and EVERYBODY who didn't plan far enough ahead to finish shopping by then was going to the mall. By the way, Christmas will be on the 25th of December next year too. You might want mark your calenders. The roads will be crowded again. Esspecially on the weekends.

arsiaytoo
December 21, 2006 4:57 a.m.

GOOD JOB DOT, another case of government incompetance

jlmkuw
December 20, 2006 10:45 a.m.

When is it going to open?

joannehilmar
December 19, 2006 7:37 p.m.

Signs warning earlier would have been nice. I was with my daughter and we enjoyed spending time together. We had just visited my friend in the hospital with luekemia. I'll bet he would have loved to have been stuck in traffic with us and not in the hospital. Being stuck in traffic is not so bad. It's all in how you look at things -

jesus
December 19, 2006 1:46 p.m.