Big crane ready to help build bigger Beltline bridge in Raleigh

Workers are preparing to build a major piece of the Interstate 440 widening project.

Drivers along I-440 in Raleigh might have seen the big crane near the Hillsborough Street exit in recent weeks. It will be used to place the girders for new, bigger I-440 bridge through the area.

NCDOT spokesman Marty Homan says the new bridge will span Hillsborough Street, Beryl Road and the railroad running between them.

"That’s quite an undertaking there, but we’re excited to get that portion underway," Homan said. "It’s a very big part of this project."

Thanks to modern design standards, Homan says the new bridge will be much wider than the existing bridge, originally designed in the 1960s.

Meanwhile, work continues on the demolition of the Athens Drive bridge over I-440. The bridge closed last month and will remain closed for a year while crews build a new one.

The NCDOT says the I-440 widening project should be finished in summer 2023. It will expand the Beltline to six lanes between Walnut Street in Cary and Wade Avenue in Raleigh.