To make matters worse... Tryon Road is about to go under construction from Lake Wheeler to South Wilmington Street at the end of this year, in order to realign the road and completely replace the bridge going over the train tracks. That'll be fun... Feel free to go ahead and cross that "alternative route" out of the equation.

IDEA,,, Go ahead and close two lanes for a week,,, Might be a good test,,,When the traffic backs up from I85 in orange county to I95 in Johnston county, they just might put this thing off till they finish the other 540 loops,, Just saying

Its not the top thats the problem,, Its the poor constructed Bottom,, Low bids, and inspectors from the first layer,,The road installed properly would still be OK, Stop the overloaded trucks, and reduce the speed to 50 MPH. This would really help or solve the bad traffic, wrecks and help conjestion,, Other cities with interstate roads set up safety Zones, reduce the speed to 50/55 and inforce it,,,Problem solved MILLIONS Saved,, I need to run for office,,Nah then I would become stupid

you can all thank "LOW BID" for all this mess

Alabama,

You don't wait until your roof leaks to fix the shingles. We don't want to wait until the pavement completely fails to replace it either. The overlay on top was put on a few years ago, but the concrete and base under it are in very bad shape. Rather than wait a few more years when there will be even more traffic to deal with, the state would rather fix it now. Plus the Southern Expressway won't be finished for at least 10 more years; the pavement won't last that much longer.

Road-wearier, you are absolutely right and I was in error. I spoke with someone today who had pulled the project data and said it was built back in the early 80's. However, he also said the pavement was designed for a 20 year lifespan, so it has outlived its service life by over 10 years now. Plus, the volume of heavy trucks is much, much higher than it was designed for, and that's the problem. The big trucks have pounded it to the point there's very little left under that thin asphalt overlay put on it a few years ago.

Bendal1, this part of I-40 is NOT 40 years old. It opened between 1983 and 1985 so it's 30 years old, tops. I can date it by the times I was working in bars on Hillsborough St and having to drive home thru the construction zones at night :)

Obviously the Correct solution is to do the work overnight between 9pm and 5am . But that would require common sense , Not in the NC DOT capabilities

This project makes absolutely no sense to me. I drive the middle stretch of I-40 daily and the pavement is smooth and even, no sign of deterioration. OK, so maybe it's out of sight, but it's not making itself felt yet.

Why not complete the Southern Wake expressway from Holly Springs to I-40 first? Then all the I-40 thru traffic would have a simple way around the mess.

fredk,

As I said earlier, I-40 wasn't designed for these truck weights combined with the overall traffic volume. I work in this industry and when you increase both truck weights and the overall # of trucks on a road, no pavement won't handle the pounding. That it lasted as long as it did says the pavement was better designed than expected, considering it lasted 25% longer and carries trucks that are 30% heavier, in addition to carrying more of these heavier trucks as well.

There's no one to "blame", nothing to get outraged about. The pavement is shot and must be replaced, it's that simple. It lasted over 40 years; you go find me untouched concrete pavement carrying the kinds of loads I-40 has carried that lasted this long. I can't think of any road in this state that has, and I've worked all over this state on these roads the past 29 years.

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