Interstate 42 (E)

[jcil4ever]

NCDOT did an aerial drive over the future Havelock Bypass...

Thanks! Great to see from this perspective! Now they just need to post the grand finale 😂

[jcil4ever]

This should not be a red flag.

There was an article a while back that Phase One was to be completed this summer.  Now sounding like August 2025 per above, which is good as I was worried they were going to change the traffic pattern before the heavy July 4th Vacation Traffic, with all Beach Condos rented around the Holiday.

Phase One was defined as the completion of the Local Roads and the New Entrance and Exit Ramps along the new Interchanges so that Existing US 70 can be shifted onto the Entrance and Exit Ramps.

Phase Two was then allowing the Bridges to be built in the Path of Existing US 70 Roadway.

The NC Project Site has been terrible at communicating Phase 1 and Phase 2 for the James City Project.

Indeed, you were right. It looks like bridge construction is imminent, except maybe with timing. Although who knows...maybe they'll just move traffic to the temporary configuration and hold off on bridge work until later.

Grantham Road Bridge Construction to Begin on James City Project

[jcil4ever]

If you're interested, progress continues in JoCo and Southern Wake County. I added some time stamps in the video description if you want to jump around:

A few dull highlights:
The overhead sign for Exit 326B for 70 West to exit has been updated to remove the Business title


The overhead signs on I-40 West for Exit 306 have been updated, leaving an oversized sign for the new, simpler US-70:

Not quite as bad when B & A are split up


All four signs for Exit 309 from I-40 East have been updated from US-70 to I-42, however, eastbound, the Exit 306 signs still haven't been updated:

[Walnut2]

Many if not all of the guide signs at the I-40/N.C. 42 interchange have also been patched to change N.C. 42 to N.C. 36. I'm not a fan of the N.C. 36 partial renumbering, nor a fan of how the Fuquay-Varina/Clayton destinations are being dropped from the main signs in favor of "Veterans Pkwy" (except for the exit 312A overheads where the off-ramps split to go west/east). On I-42 they at least put up separate signs that have them combined with a Hospital destination, but still as if an afterthought. I'm skeptical that the concerns over potential "Highway 42" confusion in emergency calls, to whatever extent they had merit, will be all that remedied by this renumbering because the remaining N.C. 42 is still just a short distance away. Hard to not hope that someone different will come along at N.C.D.O.T. someday and clean all this up.

The resigning of the U.S. 70 junction with S. Lombard St/Veterans Pkwy also has room for improvement. Both directions have signage with those names but the westbound "exit" actually turns onto Barbour St, from which drivers have to turn onto Hamby St to get to Lombard. When the exit was signed for N.C. 42 West, there were N.C. 42 West trailblazers directing drivers to make those turns, but last I saw there were only hospital trailblazers to provide any indication of where drivers need to go. An advance-right N.C. 36 West trailblazer would also be good where it approaches I-42, because the lone 36 sign added on top of the I-42 signs is easy to miss, especially with the foliage growing in front of it.

[jcil4ever]

Looks like the final road markings have been applied, except for reflectors!

Also, I drove through US-70's new/old route through Clayton. The only signs I noticed still not updated were those on I-40 East for Exit 306.

Updated sign on US-70 West, showing the old 70 East shield covered up with a To 42 shield:


Updated sign on US-70 East with "Business" covered up:


Fun pair of junction signs for NC-42 East / NC-36 West. The actual directional signs are right behind a power pole...


Exits from 70 East onto 42 West and to stay on (fading) 70 East:

[sprjus4]

I got the opportunity to drive along US-70 / I-42 between I-40 and I-95... it looks like I-42 is fully sign-posted along the US-70 Clayton Bypass with ground-mounted shields and mile markers. Any references of NC-42 have been removed and replaced with NC-36 including the overlap on I-42.

The segment east of the bypass that is being upgraded was virtually complete... the only sign of construction were the cones on the sides. The paving looked finalized, rumble strips, cable guardrail, etc... a very nice drive. All the signs were also in place. All that is needed is to unveil the 70 mph speed limit signs and get rid of the work zone signs. See the above video ^^

[brian440i]

Has Google jumped the Gun?

The Future i-42 Havelock Bypass is showing up on the Map?

Originally was Scheduled for Spring 2025 til moved back to Summer 2026....
September 2024 was 84% Complete
May 2025 is 87% Complete

[jcil4ever]

Has Google jumped the Gun?

The Future i-42 Havelock Bypass is showing up on the Map?

Originally was Scheduled for Spring 2025 til moved back to Summer 2026....
September 2024 was 84% Complete
May 2025 is 87% Complete

Yep, it's still a ways off from opening. This was from about a month ago. If you turn on the traffic layer, you'll see it's marked closed and Google is even less optimistic about completion (probably just a placeholder date):


This article, though overly optimistic, suggests the delay may be tied to not originally designing the beginning and ending interchanges for 70mph.

[The Ghostbuster]

I'm surprised they didn't put an Interstate 42 shield on the yet-to-be-completed bypass.

[jcil4ever]

I'm surprised they didn't put an Interstate 42 shield on the yet-to-be-completed bypass.

Google or NCDOT? 😂

[sprjus4]

Here's dash cam video from my drive along both NC-885 & NC-540 and US-70 between I-40 and I-95 heading eastbound the other day. The part for US-70 begins at 10:00.

You can see that the upgrades along US-70 are virtually complete, with the exception of some cones and the 60 mph work zone limit.

https://youtu.be/q3URSvqjcGk?si=pfxuq9ibRxJa7eMJ

[LM117]

How far east will the 70mph zone be extended from the Clayton Bypass? Looks to me that it could go as far as the US-70 Business interchange near Pine Level, since that entire stretch between there and I-40 is effectively a freeway now, even with the narrow shoulders between the Neuse River & US-70 Business.

[sprjus4]

How far east will the 70mph zone be extended from the Clayton Bypass? Looks to me that it could go as far as the US-70 Business interchange near Pine Level, since that entire stretch between there and I-40 is effectively a freeway now, even with the narrow shoulders between the Neuse River & US-70 Business.

The issue is the remaining Oak St intersection (right in right out) for US-70 West traffic, just before the Neuse River bridge.

I'm not sure why the US-70 upgrade project did not extend to the Buffalo Rd interchange, in order to address those bridges and the intersection (my recommendation: just close it), and extend the freeway all the way past I-95.

There were no signs of a speed drop, but a 60 mph sign still exists just before US-70 Business on the existing I-95 interchange bypass.

I imagine the speed would drop at the Neuse River, but no one will actually follow it through the freeway just east of there... not that anyone does today.

[Scott5114]

[LM117]

How far east will the 70mph zone be extended from the Clayton Bypass? Looks to me that it could go as far as the US-70 Business interchange near Pine Level, since that entire stretch between there and I-40 is effectively a freeway now, even with the narrow shoulders between the Neuse River & US-70 Business.

The issue is the remaining Oak St intersection (right in right out) for US-70 West traffic, just before the Neuse River bridge.

I'm not sure why the US-70 upgrade project did not extend to the Buffalo Rd interchange, in order to address those bridges and the intersection (my recommendation: just close it), and extend the freeway all the way past I-95.

There were no signs of a speed drop, but a 60 mph sign still exists just before US-70 Business on the existing I-95 interchange bypass.

I imagine the speed would drop at the Neuse River, but no one will actually follow it through the freeway just east of there... not that anyone does today.

I forgot about the Oak Street RIRO. I don't even know why it exists, since one can easily get to & from Oak Street by taking Buffalo Rd. I'm surprised NCDOT hasn't closed it already.

As for the speed, yeah...no way people are gonna slow down at the Neuse River while the freeway continues to east of Selma. Hell, they probably won't slow down until they get to Princeton.

[The Ghostbuster]

W. Oak St. should be cul-du-saced just before the railroad tracks.

[ElishaGOtis]

How far east will the 70mph zone be extended from the Clayton Bypass? Looks to me that it could go as far as the US-70 Business interchange near Pine Level, since that entire stretch between there and I-40 is effectively a freeway now, even with the narrow shoulders between the Neuse River & US-70 Business.

The issue is the remaining Oak St intersection (right in right out) for US-70 West traffic, just before the Neuse River bridge.

I'm not sure why the US-70 upgrade project did not extend to the Buffalo Rd interchange, in order to address those bridges and the intersection (my recommendation: just close it), and extend the freeway all the way past I-95.

There were no signs of a speed drop, but a 60 mph sign still exists just before US-70 Business on the existing I-95 interchange bypass.

I imagine the speed would drop at the Neuse River, but no one will actually follow it through the freeway just east of there... not that anyone does today.

I forgot about the Oak Street RIRO. I don't even know why it exists, since one can easily get to & from Oak Street by taking Buffalo Rd. I'm surprised NCDOT hasn't closed it already.

As for the speed, yeah...no way people are gonna slow down at the Neuse River while the freeway continues to east of Selma. Hell, they probably won't slow down until they get to Princeton.

I'm wondering if this is one of those cases where the speed limit legally changes without signage... except in this case it's end of freeway legally ending somewhere but appearing to continue.

Alabama is full of cases like this (state road turning into a county road, no sign stating the speed limit changes to 45).

[architect77]

Since the costly hurricanes in 2010s which decimated NCDOT's budget along with COVID revenue shortfalls, I am saddened to see visible cost-cutting on overhead signage. The sign size has been shrink-wrapped too snugly around many recently replaced signs such as on I-540 East at Louisburg 401 exit. Also the I-40 signs at the recent airport interchange rebuild are too small including the text. What happened to the new oversized lettering to serve an aging population? They haven't adhered to it like Georgia has. i like the large presence of the signage.---The quality is slipping at NCDOT. There is a new overhead on New Bern Ave Westbound approaching I-440 with messed up spacing between stacked words. It's a disservice to the city and NCDOT.

[msquared980]

They patched over the BUSINESS that was above the 70, so it was all centered when it went up there. They needed to just replace the whole thing...

Since the costly hurricanes in 2010s which decimated NCDOT's budget along with COVID revenue shortfalls, I am saddened to see visible cost-cutting on overhead signage. The sign size has been shrink-wrapped too snugly around many recently replaced signs such as on I-540 East at Louisburg 401 exit. Also the I-40 signs at the recent airport interchange rebuild are too small including the text. What happened to the new oversized lettering to serve an aging population? They haven't adhered to it like Georgia has. i like the large presence of the signage.---The quality is slipping at NCDOT. There is a new overhead on New Bern Ave Westbound approaching I-440 with messed up spacing between stacked words. It's a disservice to the city and NCDOT.

[Scott5114]

What happened to the new oversized lettering to serve an aging population?

As far as I know that never actually made it into the MUTCD—the minimum text size on freeway size remains 16 inches. (States, of course, are free to make the text larger.)

They patched over the BUSINESS that was above the 70, so it was all centered when it went up there.

That doesn't explain why "70 EAST" and "Clayton" aren't horizontally centered to each other or the sign panel, though. It looks like they just threw one of them onto the panel at no particular X coordinate, made a sloppy attempt at left-aligning the other line to it, and called it good.

[architect77]

What happened to the new oversized lettering to serve an aging population?

As far as I know that never actually made it into the MUTCD—the minimum text size on freeway size remains 16 inches. (States, of course, are free to make the text larger.)

They patched over the BUSINESS that was above the 70, so it was all centered when it went up there.

That doesn't explain why "70 EAST" and "Clayton" aren't horizontally centered to each other or the sign panel, though. It looks like they just threw one of them onto the panel at no particular X coordinate, made a sloppy attempt at left-aligning the other line to it, and called it good.

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.

I was specifically referring to oversized lettering that NC did seem to adopt for some overheads in the last 15 years, like I-485 in Charlotte and Raleigh's beltline featured large letters on low hanging overheads.

Georgia is fully using huge fat letters on big signs and it commands respect more so than ever before. They stopped cantilevering overheads over the roadway though which I miss. NC loves extreme cantilevered overheads lunging over all its interstates.

[jcil4ever]

Related to font sizing, any idea why the new overhead signs on the Beltline seem to have shrunk the font and shields just to make for more green margin? For instance, most recent street view vs one year ago.

[sprjus4]

Related to font sizing, any idea why the new overhead signs on the Beltline seem to have shrunk the font and shields just to make for more green margin? For instance, most recent street view vs one year ago.

I personally like the new sign style better... but there is way too much green space. Shrink it down some.

[Scott5114]

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...

[Walnut2]

Related to font sizing, any idea why the new overhead signs on the Beltline seem to have shrunk the font and shields just to make for more green margin? For instance, most recent street view vs one year ago.

The replacement overheads and gore signs on that northern portion of the Beltline are being made with more-or-less the same rectangular dimensions as the original 1990s signs, but with "modern" smaller lettering and shields slapped on, sometimes pretty sloppily (the signs for Wake Forest Rd and Six Forks Rd especially come to mind). Awful.

Another example of how there seems to be less oversight now to ensure contractors or counties/regional divisions are designing and making signs up to spec.

Road/street name signs on state-maintained roads outside city limits in my area (western Johnston County) are also an example. They used to be very high quality, but in the past several years they've become worse than amateur hour, with non-standard fonts that have often been squished horizontally where they're hard to read, and worst of all non-retroreflective white lettering on green backgrounds that are, making them practically unreadable at night. The new signs along "Veterans Pkwy" and "Clayton Blvd" outside Clayton city limits (getting back to something related to the I-42 topic) are more of the same garbage, albeit at least with fonts that aren't so squished. Signs the Town of Clayton has been installing, as well as some housing developments I've passed, have their nits to pick but at least are fully retroreflective and using FHWA fonts.