New I-40/440 rebuild project dubbed 'Crawleigh' by NC DOT

That's the winning name in a contest by the North Carolina Department of Transportation to come up with a cute title for a three-year reconstruction of Interstate 40/440 — a project that promises to be anything but cute for motorists.

NCDOT announced the winner Wednesday morning. While many people submitted "Crawleigh," Grant Tew was the first to do so and now has official "bragging rights" to the moniker that will be used in all future references to the $168 million project. It will even be the name on the project's website.

"I was born and raised around the Triangle area," Tew said. "I think I've crawled through enough traffic snarls to know what one looks like. So Crawleigh seemed like a good name."

NCDOT officials came up with the contest last month to give the project a catchy name like Boston's Big Dig or Carmageddon in Los Angeles. Submissions came from more than 350 residents, and officials chose five finalists to put up for a public vote online.

The names that made the final cut were: Carmuda Triangle, Crawleigh, South-Wake Remake, Southern Discomfort and Wake-Over.

In the end, Crawleigh won handily, securing 2,360 of 4,752 votes. 

The rebuild of 11 miles of I-40/440 – from U.S. Highway 1 in Cary to U.S. Highway 64/264 in Raleigh – will begin next spring or summer and last three years.

The project will require lane closures, sometimes leaving only two lanes open.

Officials said the section of highway is 30 years old, and workers need to dig down at least 2 feet to remove and replace concrete and asphalt on the road, shoulders and ramps.

Although they did not make the final five, the following entries earned an honorable mention from NCDOT: