Diverging diamond-style interchange in progress at Jones Sausage Road

Part of Jones Sausage Road will be closed Friday starting at 9 p.m. through Monday at 5 a.m.

Once it reopens, the road will have a new traffic pattern: a diverging diamond interchange.

The first of its kind in the Triangle area opened in 2021 at I-440/Western Boulevard. NC Department of Transportation said this design helps the traffic flow. However, for some drivers the traffic pattern can be confusing.

“With the turns and the construction next to it, it just feels a little awkward,” said Terry Taj.

Jamaria McPhatter said she thinks the interchange can be unsafe.

“There’s been so many times people almost wreck, just getting off the exit,” she said.

The design is used in other parts of the country, but it's a relatively new concept in Wake County and the surrounding areas.

Kim Deaner with NCDOT said the pattern will be an adjustment.

“You have to really pay attention to what you're doing, and you have to get used to the design of it,” she explained. “While there may be a learning curve, and people may feel anxious going through these diverging diamonds, they're safer, as long as they're paying attention to what they're doing.”

WRAL Data Trackers found that since the diverging diamond at the Western Boulevard interchange opened two years ago, there have been 109 crashes – most involving rear-ending and sideswiping. Data also shows that crashes are happening less often compared to the old interchange.

“It’s designed to move a lot of traffic through an intersection safer than what was there before,” said Deaner. “One thing that the diverging diamond takes away from folks is the ability to turn left in front of oncoming traffic. That's where we have the most serious crashes. That's where people are more likely to get T-boned, more likely to get into a head-on collision. A diverging diamond interchange completely takes that out of the equation.”

Deaner said as construction completes in late 2024, more changes are expected at the I-440/Western Boulevard interchange. She said those changes should make the traffic pattern more clear to drivers.