Big News! Complete 540 highway project ahead of schedule
Triangle Business Journal, December 22, 2017
Officials have signed off on the final environmental impact statement for a project known as Complete 540 – and it’s ahead of schedule.
Initially, the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s N.C. Turnpike Authority had expected to receive Federal Highway Administration approval for the document in mid-2018.
The just-obtained FHA approval is a key step toward the construction of the final section of the $2.2 billion project, which will extend the Triangle Expressway from the N.C. 55 Bypass in Apex to the U.S. 64/U.S. 264 Bypass in Knightdale, completing the 540 Outer Loop around the greater Raleigh area.
Officials say the project, if built, will link the towns of Apex, Cary, Clayton, Garner, Fuquay-Varina, Holly Springs and Raleigh.
Why it matters:
Danna Widmar, director of special projects with the town of Cary, says that, by pulling traffic off of heavily-trafficked roads such as I-440 and I-40, the project could speed up commutes throughout the Triangle.
“It’s a congestion relief element that does impact, basically, right through the center of the region, so providing this alternative is really going to be helpful for Cary, Raleigh, everybody,” Widmar says.
Joe Milazzo, executive director of the Regional Transportation Alliance calls the project "critical" for the future of regional mobility.
“It helps build a reliant highway network for our market now and as we grow,” he says.