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Posted: February 4, 2008

Widening Work Begins Monday Night on Wake Forest Road

Wake Forest Road Widening Project Begins Monday Night

Wake Forest Road Widening Project Begins Monday Night

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Raleigh, N.C. — Raleigh drivers should brace themselves for a traffic headache. Starting Monday night, the state Department of Transportation will begin widening a half-mile stretch of Wake Forest Road near the Interstate 440 Beltline.

Work will include adding a lane in each direction of Wake Forest Road between Six Forks Road and the Beltline, as well as adding new signals, signs and roadway lighting at the Beltline and widening the highway entrance ramps.

The Wake Forest Road interchange usually ranks as one of the most accident-prone intersections in Raleigh.

All work will be done between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., but lanes also might be closed on some weekends, officials said. Drivers are encouraged to use alternate routes during the project.

The $3.1 million road project, which was awarded to Rea Contracting LLC of Charlotte, is expected to be completed by November.

Reporter: Erin Coleman

RELATED TOPICS: Wake Forest, Raleigh

9 Comments

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Latest Comments

how come it seems like everytime you drive by some road construction all the men are standing around, looking around while traffic backs up and one poor little person is doing all the work while the rest are just smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee.... are they paid by the working minute or what...

BIGCHEESECAMATO
February 4, 2008 3:33 p.m.

I'm glad they are doing that because that portion of WF road was very congested and something needed to be done. I think it will take until November because they are limiting themselves to hours where they will cause the least amount of rush hour headaches. Also they will have widen the road and remove and replace sidewalks to accomodate the wider lanes. I'm happy to see this improvement because I have to travel that stretch a lot and it is horrible!

chaz_1277
February 4, 2008 1:06 p.m.

So instead of buses, trains, etc. we should just widen the roads.... but widening less than two miles of a road takes almost a year.

How long would it take to widen *all* the roads that "need" to be widened? To say nothing about costs.

ncwebguy
February 4, 2008 12:59 p.m.

Yes, adding more lanes will make it less confusing and accident-prone. Please make the lanes smaller too, I have an inch too much room on one side when driving down that road.

fyiarp
February 4, 2008 12:10 p.m.

I see the workers sitting off to the side, eating, laying under trees... They can't sit under the trees, they have been spending the past three months cutting them down with a butter knife. I am also surprised that they did not just paint another lane on the road like they did when they widened Wake Forest Rd north of the beltline?