Newly finished lanes to be opened in Fortify zone Sunday night

As construction work continues in the Fortify zone on Interstate 40 in south Raleigh, crews are set on Sunday to shift traffic onto newly finished lanes of I-40 West.

Contractors will shift traffic to new lanes from west of Lake Wheeler Road to west of the Avent Ferry Road bridge overnight Friday into Saturday morning.

A similar shift took place last month on I-40 East.

Crews have spent this week preparing for the move by moving barriers and painting new lane markings.

Eventually, concrete barriers will be moved in place in the area to provide additional protection for workers still finishing other parts of the highway.

There are more lane shifts on inside travel lanes planned for the summer, North Carolina Department of Transportation officials said.

All traffic in the 8.5-mile I-40 section of the project should be on the new travel lanes by early fall.