Interstate 42 (E)

[english si]

Apologies if this has been discussed before, but does anyone know what the finished I-40/I-42/NC 540 interchange will look like?

It's on OSM, but obviously the additional ramps are marked as under-construction.

[brian440i]

You can reach maps from the Project Site:
https://www.ncdot.gov/projects/complete-540/Pages/project-maps.aspx

I'd look at this one below.

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/67324e7937374d5ca5bb1cdb16defb53/

[jcil4ever]

Drove through Wilson's Mills westbound today. My untrained eye couldn't spot anything that wasn't done yet—all signs and road markings (including reflectors) looked to be in place (except for that one incorrect US-70 Business West sign for Exit 326B). Hopefully this is the week the covers are pulled off those 70 mph signs!

Oh, and I guess these are more common now, but I was interested to see that the VMS (visible at about :30 in the video) looks to be full color as it seemed to be in a blue screen test mode:

[sprjus4]

It does make me wonder, with variable speed limit signs, why don't they increase the speed limit up to 70 mph when they're not working?

The same thing with the completed 8-lane segments of I-95 south of here that are still "work zone" 60 mph.

[architect77]

Drove through Wilson's Mills westbound today. My untrained eye couldn't spot anything that wasn't done yet—all signs and road markings (including reflectors) looked to be in place (except for that one incorrect US-70 Business West sign for Exit 326B). Hopefully this is the week the covers are pulled off those 70 mph signs!

Oh, and I guess these are more common now, but I was interested to see that the VMS (visible at about :30 in the video) looks to be full color as it seemed to be in a blue screen test mode:

Atlanta has a few full color digital overhead signs with graphics of a green overhead sign with exit tab followed by a distance to it.

[bob7374]

Drove through Wilson's Mills westbound today. My untrained eye couldn't spot anything that wasn't done yet—all signs and road markings (including reflectors) looked to be in place (except for that one incorrect US-70 Business West sign for Exit 326B). Hopefully this is the week the covers are pulled off those 70 mph signs!

Oh, and I guess these are more common now, but I was interested to see that the VMS (visible at about :30 in the video) looks to be full color as it seemed to be in a blue screen test mode:

I don't know why they've insisted on keeping the US 70 exit number for the US 70 West/Bus. 70 exit westbound but changed the one headed east to I-42 mileage. Wouldn't it be simpler having an exit with just one number?

[jcil4ever]

It does make me wonder, with variable speed limit signs, why don't they increase the speed limit up to 70 mph when they're not working?

The same thing with the completed 8-lane segments of I-95 south of here that are still "work zone" 60 mph.

Certainly a wonder of mine!

Atlanta has a few full color digital overhead signs with graphics of a green overhead sign with exit tab followed by a distance to it.

NCDOT seems to have typically reserved them for toll roads (while rarely using the color features); maybe this is indicative of a wider rollout?

I don't know why they've insisted on keeping the US 70 exit number for the US 70 West/Bus. 70 exit westbound but changed the one headed east to I-42 mileage. Wouldn't it be simpler having an exit with just one number?

Well, they're occasionally consistent! They did the same thing at the eastern of the Goldsboro Bypass—US-70 is Exit 370 westbound and 53 eastbound.

[architect77]

The Word BUSINESS was above the shield centered to the shield. Fitting the word BUSINESS at the top of the sign pushed the group to the right which explains why it's not centered.

Huh? That's not how it's supposed to work.

[BUSINESS]
[70 EAST]
[Clayton]

are three independent blocks that should all be horizontally centered to the sign panel, which would also center them to each other. With BUSINESS removed, [70 EAST] and [Clayton] should still be horizontally centered. (They obviously won't be vertically centered anymore, but it's rare they are even when new. Margins are determined by the size of adjacent text, so this sign should have originally had a 12" top margin and 16" bottom margin.)

There are some tricky situations when it comes to centering banners, but this isn't one of them.

ETA: Okay, after writing this and then looking at the photo again, I think what you're trying to say is that [BUSINESS] was originally centered to just the US-70 shield rather than the sign panel which...is technically correct, I suppose, but it looks worse than centering it over both 70 and EAST (which would also be technically correct). Really, the lesson here is probably to not put business routes on freeways, so they don't need pull-through signs to begin with...

centerline by Stephen Edwards, on Flickr

[ElishaGOtis]

It does make me wonder, with variable speed limit signs, why don't they increase the speed limit up to 70 mph when they're not working?

The same thing with the completed 8-lane segments of I-95 south of here that are still "work zone" 60 mph.

Does this help? It mentions a warrant to reduce the speed limit if there are interchanges, uneven lanes, narrower clear zones (if any), and a few more factors. Halfway through it talks about VSLs in work zones. https://connect.ncdot.gov/projects/WZTC/Documents/Chapter%208%20Reduce%20Speed.pdf