RALEIGH, NC — Seven years of rough roads, lane closures and hundreds, if not thousands of orange barrels are about to come to an end for Wake County drivers.
After multiple missed deadlines, the expansion and reconfiguration of Raleigh's Beltline from Wade Avenue to the Cary Crossroads area, is nearing an end.
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The project, which started in 2019, was supposed to wrap up in 2023. Yet, here we are in the summer of 2026 and the lane closures, rough roads and orange barrels remain.
With the delays, we went to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, which awarded the $346 million contract to Lane Construction, with questions that are on the minds of a lot of drivers:
- When will the work officially be done?
- What's the total anticipated cost of the project now?
- Has the contractor incurred any fines because of the delays and if so, how much?
- How did this project get so far behind?
The first answer should be music to the ears of drivers. The NCDOT says the work will be done on the Interstate 440 portion by the end of the summer. However, there may still be additional work needed on secondary roads that intersect with the Beltline.
That deadline does not include the Blue Ridge Road/Hillsborough Street project near the State Fairgrounds, which should be done next year.
As for the cost, that initial $346 million contract is up. In fact, the NCDOT has already paid out $351 million, with more invoices to come. According to the agency's website, the cost is now estimated at $475 million.
The $475 million listed on the DOT website the cost for the entire project, which includes things like land purchases and moving utilities. An explanation of the estimated cost of the total project is not given on the website. The DOT now tells us do they have a rough estimate on the total cost, but can not release that to us at this point.
According to the NCDOT, the contractor has incurred penalties of about $2.5 million so far for missed deadlines for things like keeping lanes closed too long.
WRAL News previously reported on a $280,000 fine for the 28-hour delay in reopening Western Boulevard with its new diverging diamond design. Yes, $280,000 for 28 hours. $10,000 per hour. Yet, a three-year delay in the overall project only led to a total of $2.5 million in fines.
Finally, what led to such a massive miss on the deadline?
Watch the "WRAL Daily Download" podcast: Why Raleigh's I-440 Beltline construction is three years late and millions over budget
Three-year delay on Beltline road construction
The pandemic was an unavoidable and unforeseeable delay, impacting worker availability and supplies. Weather can have an impact too, though most contract timelines include anticipated delays for heavy rain, snow or extreme cold that impacts laying down asphalt.
A YouTube post from the contractor, Lane Construction, also discussed the complexity of a multi-phase project, made even more challenging because the work was taking place on or next to existing roads that needed to stay as open as possible.
WRAL Investigates wanted to know more about the "multi-phase" project aspect, so we spoke to several people with expertise in the road-building industry. The explanations helped answer the question: Why is there work on one section of a project for a few weeks, then, the workers disappear for what seems like months?
In many cases, large road construction projects don't follow the same path we take in our daily projects at work or at home.
Here's an example. Think of your kitchen appliances as subcontractors used on a road project. When making a large holiday meal, you wouldn't cook everything that needed to be cooked in the oven first, before moving to the stovetop for other items, then the microwave. That would take forever!
However, when it comes to road projects, it can be more efficient and cost-effective to hire a subcontractor for grading surfaces, painting lines or laying down asphalt. Instead of doing all three phases at one location, the grading company will work on one area, then head to another, then another. Once their work is done, the paving company will come in and follow the same path.
That explains why, in many cases, you'll see weeks or months of work at one location and it's left looking half-done for weeks or months until the next phase begins.
But for now, the good news is the NCDOT says we are in the final phase of the entire project. Seven years in, we may be months away from the final step: A construction truck picking up all those orange barrels.
Then vs. now: Beltline construction from 2019 vs. 2025
WRAL News compiled several Google Earth photos of the Beltline project, comparing what the Beltline looked like in 2019 versus 2025.
Here's a look at the comparisons from north to south.
Beltline and Hillsborough Street
Beltline and Western Boulevard