Will Raleigh Beltline construction really be finished in 2025? Well, yes, mostly.
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It’s become one of those construction projects that never seem to end.
The widening and overhaul of the Interstate 440 Beltline in West Raleigh was supposed to take four years. It’s been more than five.
But while it looks like there’s still a long way to go, the N.C. Department of Transportation says it hopes the road will be mostly finished late this year.
“The project will be in substantial completion by the end of 2025, with some finishing touches extending into 2026,” says Cody Winkler, the NCDOT engineer overseeing the work.
Those finishing touches include the final paving and landscaping, which will likely be done with warmer weather in the spring of 2026. But the highway and its interchanges should be in their final pattern by Christmas, Winkler says.
Among the work still head, contractors must finish demolishing the old Hillsborough Street bridge and widen the new one; build the new inside lanes and shoulders and a concrete median; and widen the secondary roads where they intersect the highway, to get them in their final configuration.
The four-mile stretch of highway dates back to the early 1960s and was the oldest segment of the Beltline. It was also the only four-lane section left and had interchanges that weren’t designed for the kind of traffic out there today.
So NCDOT set out to widen the road to six lanes and reconfigure the interchanges at Wade Avenue, Hillsborough Street, Western Boulevard and Jones Franklin Road.
The $415 million project includes the nearby underpass that will carry Blue Ridge Road under Hillsborough Street, Beryl Road and the N.C. Railroad tracks near the NC. State Fairgrounds.
Work on the underpass began with the closing of the N.C. State Fair in 2022. NCDOT had hoped it would be completed in time for the 2024 fair. Now, while the department says the underpass should be substantially complete by the end of 2025, it’s not clear yet whether it will open in time for the fair in October, Winkler said.
Construction on the Beltline has also taken longer than planned. Work began in late summer 2019 and was expected to be finished by the end of 2023. NCDOT cites several setbacks, including the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on labor and supplies; delays in obtaining right-of-way and moving utilities, and challenges shoring up the soil at the Blue Ridge Road site.
“All those things combined to create the delays,” Winkler said.
This story was originally published January 2, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Will Raleigh Beltline construction really be finished in 2025? Well, yes, mostly.."
