cowboy_wilhelm

Sunday at 01:22 PM

NCDOT deploys the "dynamic zipper merge" as part of the transportation management plans for some of their construction projects.

"USE BOTH LANES TO MERGE POINT"
"MERGE HERE TAKE TURNS"

April 8

There's a lot of info in this recent presentation from the NCDOT Rail Division. S-Line: Building A Transformational Rail Corridor

New trainsets for the Carolinian in 2027 and Piedmont in 2032 (isn't that a long delay?).
"Control S-Line operational and schedule decisions into the future through acquisition of CSXT corridor."
One of the maps shows an RTP station under development between Durham and Cary. First time I've seen that anywhere.
Raleigh to Wake Forest S-Line funded for construction.
- Grade crossings, concrete ties, high speed switches, etc.
- Maynard Rd. and Trinity Rd. grade separations in Cary are also listed?
Upcoming FY 24 Federal-State Partnership (FSP) grant opportunity to apply for constructing the Wake Forest to Henderson segment.
Begin service to Wake Forest in 2030 and Henderson in 2032 (if funded).
Future Corridor ID Program applications:
- Raleigh to Greenville
- Raleigh to Hamlet
- Raleigh to Morehead City
- Raleigh to Weldon
- Charlotte to Winston-Salem

February 29

The project to replace the Durant Road crossing with an overpass in northern Wake County will be let in March. This will be the first new project to grade separate crossings along the S-Line.

Of note is the minimum vertical clearance of 24' 3" from the top of rail to the bridge. From what has been mentioned before and what I have been able to find online, this is the clearance required for future overhead electric catenary. The horizontal clearance between the bridge abutments will be wide enough to accommodate three additional tracks.

At least they're planning ahead and future-proofing.

The project is scheduled to be finished by January 2027.

Project Plans and Proposal

February 11

Why can't something like this exist? Other than Norfolk Southern being terrible at running their trains and refusing to cooperate. I made this up using the existing Crescent schedule as a template for the other frequencies. Hopefully I didn't mess up any of the times.

It wouldn't cost that much to implement and could be done pretty much now instead of waiting decades for high speed rail to never happen. Throw in some federal funding for additional double track and sidings, and speed and reliability could go up. It's not fast, but it's better than what we have now.

January 20

There is now a project page on the NCDOT's website for the I-85 and I-485 interchange revisions west of Charlotte. A public meeting will be held February 8 for the project. Two maps are available showing the proposed improvements (map 1 and map 2). Construction is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2025.

It's an improvement over the existing conditions for the merging 485 ramps, but only having two collector/distributor lanes for 40k vehicles that are merging with I-85 in less than 3/4 of a mile, with one lane exiting into the weigh station, just seems like a continuing cluster for 85 southbound. The southbound weigh station really needs to be moved and have a fifth auxiliary lane from the 485 ramp to Exit 27/ NC 273. Or, not cheap out and build a new Sam Wilson Rd. overpass wide enough to accommodate the 485 ramps and provide twice the distance for traffic to merge.

December 15, 2023

I wish I was wrong. I'd love to see this done.

I have a feeling that over the next few years we're going to start hearing from NCDOT (again) about major delays to highway projects due to cost increases. We're reaching the point where project costs are being counted in billions of dollars instead of millions. The remainder of I-540 is $2.5 billion, the I-26 connector in Asheville (5 miles) and the eventual widening of I-77 south of Charlotte will each cost over $1 billion.

Regarding the extension of the Piedmont, I suspect the first and last services of the day will not begin or terminate at Kings Mountain or Wake Forest since that is a long, non-revenue trip from the yards. The morning service will likely start at Charlotte and Raleigh, then continue on to the end of the line at Kings Mountain or Wake Forest. Clean the train and then board again for the trip in the other direction. The evening service will then terminate at Charlotte/Raleigh and return to the yard.

December 11, 2023

The latest cost estimate I can find is $2.4 billion (source), which is probably a decade old at this point and definitely does not take into account the insane increase in real estate and construction costs of the past few years. And that is just an estimate from a study. Preliminary engineering is just starting which will develop the 30 percent plans by May 2025. Costs always go much higher once design starts. Full build with everything grade separated is probably at least $4 billion now. Rebuilding mostly as-is and keeping speeds < 79 MPH will be significantly cheaper, but with longer travel times. Time will tell how much they plan to trim.

About 40 percent of the route is proposed on new alignment. A quote from another forum: "the SAL main was laid out by a blind surveyor with a one-eyed mule."

New rail is probably the cheapest part of construction. It's realigning roads and constructing scores of overpasses that adds up. Overpasses are roughly $10-30+ million a pop, and there are 40-50 that need to be constructed just on the N.C. side. (Millbrook Rd. = $30M, New Hope Church Rd. = $19M, Durant Rd. = $18.2M, Rogers Rd. = $32.1M, etc.).

The necessary right-of-way to get from the Raleigh station and across Capital Blvd. is about $30 million alone. Three bridges are proposed within that short distance, two of them 1,500 feet long.

The portion through Wake County will be the most expensive and is the obvious starting point, but this one grant is not going to mean a rebuilt S-line any time soon.

Don't get me wrong, this is a huge investment to get things started. I would love to take the train instead of driving on 95, but it will probably be two decades or more before we restore trains to an abandoned line and travel at the same speed as they did 40 years ago (60 by then). The feds will need to start doling out billions and billions more before we see any real improvements.

December 10, 2023

December 9, 2023

Y'all do realize the billion dollars is only going to extend the Piedmont service to Wake Forest, right? Half of that cost is probably for the right-of-way and construction just to get from the Raleigh station and across Capital Blvd.

September 10, 2023

On 9/8/2023 at 2:38 PM, NotSoAlien said:

Does anyone know whats going on Hwy 16? Between the areas circled in red below. They have been cutting the center grass area out and putting what appears to be turn around areas. They are also doing work off the sides of the roads near the bridges. Does anyone know why they are doing any of that?

"Superstreet"/reduced conflict intersections (u-turn to turn left or cross road).

Project plans: https://connect.ncdot.gov/letting/Division 10 Letting/07-20-2022/P_meck_DJ00421_07202022.pdf

July 27, 2023

Contracts have been awarded for the last sections of the U.S. 74 Shelby Bypass and the new interchange at Mooresboro. Construction can begin on the rest of the bypass at the end of August and is supposed to be completed by the end of October 2028. Once both projects are finished, U.S. 74 will be a continuous freeway from I-26 to I-85.

R-2707D/E (bypass) award letter

R-4045 award letter

June 20, 2023

The contract to build the Charlotte wye has finally been posted. Once awarded, work can begin in September and should be completed in the summer of 2025. The second platform at Kannapolis has been delayed until November. The Salisbury platform has been delayed until 2025.

Project proposal and plans.

May 28, 2023

Don't forget Goldsboro, Monroe, Asheboro, Selma, Greenville, Kinston (eventually), and others. This is not unique to Shelby.

There are a few reasons I've heard for the delays. There was the budget crunch from the Map Act settlements, hurricane recovery, and then COVID that affected all projects. That delayed construction from 2019 to 2021 and then to 2023.

Another reason is the claim that the Division couldn't fund construction on all sections at once and have funding for other projects in the Division, so it's split into "manageable" sections. That hasn't stopped other bypass projects across the state (Asheboro and Goldsboro are good examples) from being constructed all at once. Remember that Monroe is tolled and uses a different funding mechanism.

Another interesting claim for the delay over the years was the doomed Garden Parkway. The crooked politicians that were looking to profit off the land development around the interchanges kept the project funding earmarked for years, even though it was tied up in lawsuits and not going anywhere. That prevented other projects in the Division/MPO like the Shelby Bypass from moving forward since there wasn't enough money left in the funding pot. Had it not been for the Garden Parkway, the Shelby Bypass would likely have been fully built early last decade. The Record of Decision was published in October 2008.

And finally, as those in Charlotte are already aware, Raleigh doesn't care about western North Carolina unless it's Asheville or Boone. No one from Raleigh drives through Shelby. It is not on their radar and not on their way to the beach or mountains. It took nearly two decades to build 74 between I-26 and U.S. 221. It was such a slow project they literally had to go in and clear newly grown scrub trees and re-grade before paving. Slow projects are nothing new here.

Exit 163 in 1976.

Exit 167 in 1989.

May 23, 2023

Project plans have been posted for the final sections of the U.S. 74 Shelby Bypass, a decade after construction began on the first section. The contract will be let 7/18/2023 and construction can begin 8/28/2023. Completion is slated for 4/30/2029, with majority completion by 11/1/2028. A separate design-build project to construct an interchange at Lattimore Rd. in Mooresboro west of Shelby will also be let in July. Once both projects are completed, U.S. 74 will be a continuous freeway between I-26 and I-85.

January 7, 2023

They're basically the same height.

December 29, 2022

On 12/25/2022 at 11:04 PM, Take2 said:

The live traffic cams installed by NCDOT are so sad and embarrassing compared to other states. Specifically Georgia. Atlanta seems to have traffic cams every exit facing both directions of traffic AND most are in real time... as in they are live streaming cams.

Then you have Charlotte. The cams are sporadic at best. NONE of the cams in Charlotte are live streaming and very often the angle in which they are placed isn't even on the freakin traffic... some are facing the ground... some the sun... and the ones that don't work at all... far to many.

It's just shocking to me. Are traffic cams obsolete now and I just didn't get the memo, or is the NCDOT obsolete ???

I believe they are streaming, just not publicly streaming.... WRAL used to have links to live camera feeds around Raleigh on their website, but they don't seem to be working anymore. See the 7-year-old video below showing the NCDOT Traffic Operations Center.

You can also cite the "limit use to 30 seconds" warning for this camera on I-26.

A lot of NCDOT's camera are simply old and outdated analog cameras. Some rely on a cellular modem for uplink, and others only have solar panels for power. Those are all limiting factors.

New camera installations tend to be lumped in with bigger projects. For example, the I-77 express lanes. The camera below on I-77 has dedicated power, is full HD and has a fiber connection. I would expect new installations along I-85 through Gaston County during the upcoming widening project.

Fiber lines are currently being installed along I-26, I-85, I-95, US 70 and US 74 under this contract (locations listed in this addendum). Those are crucial for fast and reliable data, especially if you want constant streaming. There's also a big project that just got underway for ITS upgrades and maintenance across the state.

Statewide ITS Resilience Project

With all that said, it is lame that all we get is a static image refreshed approximately every 15 minutes. Even SCDOT does better than that. Hopefully we will see some improvements in the not-too-distant future.

December 19, 2022

On 9/16/2022 at 3:22 PM, jthomas said:

Random thoughts from onboard Piedmont train 77 this afternoon:

There must have been at least 100 people who boarded at Raleigh - probably closer to 150. We could absolutely support all-day hourly frequencies on this route, right now. Let your representatives know that we need this mobility option. NCDOT's current plans are not ambitious enough and are taking way too long to implement. This needs to change.

Amtrak's boarding practices are extremely archaic and inefficient. Coupled with the lack of level boarding at all stations, they are a real obstacle to on-time performance and overall running time, especially when the train is busy.

I love the new Raleigh station, but the platform access is so convoluted. I could have saved 10 minutes of walking if I could have just directly accessed the platform from Cabarrus Street.

There are still a lot of slow curves and grade crossings between Raleigh and Greensboro. It's kind of like if you had to drive US 70 between those two cities. We need a rail I-40.

On 11/29/2022 at 8:21 AM, kermit said:

Fancy new Hillsborough station expected in 2027 (for roughly $8 million)

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/orange-county/article269330092.html

No offense to Hillsborough, but Hillsborough needs to be bypassed, at least for high speed rail. That is the curviest section along the route.

The eventual widening of I-85 between I-40 and Durham would be an excellent opportunity to incorporate a new HSR cut-off into the right-of-way and project plans. Overly simplified, join I-85 at the Durham Freeway split, follow I-85 past Hillsborough and the I-40 interchange, then reconnect to the existing line near Efland. The existing line through Hillsborough can be left for freight traffic and Piedmont or future commuter/regional service.

This is basically what Brightline has done on the new line to Orlando.

December 17, 2022

On 12/8/2022 at 5:55 PM, DCMetroRaleigh said:

When is construction scheduled to begin on the Wadesboro Bypass? It should be a bypass from Marshville to the Pee Dee River.

In typical NCDOT fashion, the bypass is split into sections, with the eastern half (R-5878B) not scheduled to begin until 2029. That section was delayed a couple of years like many other projects due to NCDOT's budget issues. The western half is not programmed in the current STIP or Draft 2024-2033 STIP. So, you know, maybe done by 2050.

August 23, 2022

The following projects have been delayed:

The wye connection has been delayed from October to February.
The second platform at Kannapolis has been delayed from October to March.
The second platform at Salisbury has been delayed until January 2024.

July 22, 2022

There is $5 million allocated in the recently passed South Carolina state budget to assist with purchasing the South Carolina portion of the line. I don't think the groups would make the announcement and state dollars already earmarked if Norfolk Southern wasn't willing to sell. The groups just need to raise the amount NS wants (drumming up more support with the announcement) and it's probably a done deal.

July 21, 2022

On 7/17/2022 at 10:02 PM, KJHburg said:

Inching towards completion the I-485 express lanes today.

ever heard the phrase " I drove the wheels off my vehicle" well happened to me in the Lowcountry this weekend. Luckily and thank God it happened in a parking lot. the culprit: loose lug nuts.

On 7/18/2022 at 9:34 PM, nicholas said:

How did that happen? That's worse than one of my motorcycle friends who bought a Kawasaki at a local dealership, and they forgot to put any oil in it.

The tire guy was apparently sick on lug nut day.

May 29, 2022

Who else remembers when we were supposed to have high speed rail by 2010?

https://web.archive.org/web/20011202214053/http://sehsr.org/

December 10, 2021

6 hours ago, tozmervo said:

74 is much further in design for express lanes from 485 to 277 and will almost certainly get built out first.

I was searching for this the other day and can't find it - several years ago there was a preliminary analysis of I-77 south of Uptown and how it's capacity could be increased. Suggestions included an elevated 4 lane section above the ground. Does anyone remember where this lives? (and also 77 south of uptown could be NC's most expensive road project ever)

Feasibility Study 0810A (page 31/figure 2)

The I-26 connector in Asheville will probably take the most expensive "honor" if/when it starts in a few years (already estimated at $1 billion+), and the project is only five miles long (well, there's a bunch of ramps and bridges). I-77 in southern Mecklenburg will likely take the crown after that since it isn't scheduled to start for another decade and already estimated at over $1 billion, but it's about double the length.

August 26, 2021

On 6/25/2021 at 8:00 AM, cowboy_wilhelm said:

The wye is tentatively scheduled to be let in August of this year, along with the Kannapolis second platform. The second platform in Salisbury is scheduled for a November let.

Can't remember where I read it, but yes, NS needs the wye to eliminate backing into their intermodal yard from the Columbia line, so I'm sure they were more eager to cooperate on this project than some others.

https://connect.ncdot.gov/letting/12 Month Tentative Letting Library/12 MONTH LET LIST (JUNE 2021 - MAY 2022).pdf

The wye has been delayed until November. The second platforms at Kannapolis and Salisbury have been delayed until December and March, respectively, due to "external actions" (probably NS whining about something).

August 25, 2021

On 6/6/2021 at 8:35 AM, KJHburg said:

The story of some of the 243 Liberty ships built in Wilmington during WW 2 on this the anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

Fate of Wilmington cargo ships constructed during World War II (starnewsonline.com)

Thanks for sharing that. My paternal grandparents moved to Wilmington during the war and my grandfather became a foreman at the shipyard building these. Never really read much into it.

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