Would you support paying tolls if it meant building a Capital Boulevard freeway sooner?
The N.C. Department of Transportation has been planning for years to convert a congested stretch of Capital Boulevard into a freeway between Raleigh and Wake Forest but has enough money to begin work on only a small part of it.
Now the regional transportation planning organization has asked NCDOT to look into whether it makes sense to accelerate construction by turning the completed highway into a toll road. NCDOT, through the N.C. Turnpike Authority, would be able to borrow the money it needs for the project and pay it back with future toll revenue, much the way it has financed and built N.C. 540, the Triangle Expressway, in southern Wake County.
The study has support from town boards in Wake Forest, Franklinton and Youngsville, as well as the Regional Transportation Alliance, an arm of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce.
Joe Milazzo, the group’s executive director, said a preliminary analysis by the Turnpike Authority suggests NCDOT could accelerate construction with tolls ranging from $2 to $3 for those driving the 10-mile highway from I-540 to the Franklin County line.
“We want to see what the detailed study would tell us,” Milazzo wrote in an email. “Of course, the reality is that Capital Boulevard travelers are already paying a toll of delay and stress every day with nothing to show for it.”
Capital Boulevard, which is also U.S. 1, is mostly a four-lane divided highway north of I-540 with driveways on both sides and traffic lights where cars can back up a mile or more at rush hour.
NCDOT’s plans call for a six-lane freeway with a concrete median and a speed limit of 65 mph. Instead of intersections, there would be four new interchanges at Durant/Perry Creek roads, Burlington Mills Road, Falls of Neuse Road/Main Street and Purnell/Harris roads.
The plans also call for new access roads to reach homes and businesses that now have driveways on Capital and those side streets that would lose direct access.
Rising costs force NCDOT to delay construction
In 2018, NCDOT estimated building all 10 miles of freeway would cost about $465 million. Now, with rising costs for land, materials and labor, the department expects it would cost more than $750 million.
Because of competition from other projects across the state, NCDOT has money only for the first leg of the freeway, between I-540 and Durant and Perry Creek roads in Raleigh. That 1.5-mile section alone would cost about $280 million. NCDOT hopes to begin construction on that section in 2025, with work on the remaining sections coming no sooner than 2029.
The executive board of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, which helps set transportation priorities for the region, voted unanimously Jan. 17 to request the toll study. Chris Lukasina, CAMPO’s executive director, said support for the study by local governments and business groups doesn’t necessarily mean support for tolls.
“They’re simply endorsing the study of whether to use toll revenue as a viable and possibly preferred way to accelerate the freeway upgrade,” Lukasina said. “The study will provide the information that our elected officials need to make a good, informed decision.”
NCDOT hasn’t determined what the study will look like or how long it would take, according to spokeswoman Kim Deaner. Lukasina said it would likely take months and almost certainly involve significant public involvement.
The results would come back to CAMPO, which under state law would need to approve any new toll road in Wake County. The General Assembly may need to approve tolling Capital Boulevard as well, Deaner said.
“A potential legislative change would depend on the type of tolling facility,” she wrote in an email. “Adding express lanes would likely not require a legislative change, while a fully tolled expressway likely would.”
Deaner also noted that a change in spending priorities at NCDOT could make the toll study moot.
NCDOT works off a 10-year plan that it updates every two years. The department sets its priorities with a formula that grades and ranks big highway projects based on how much they would cut congestion while promoting safety and economic development. Projects that rank higher tend to get done sooner.
NCDOT divided the U.S. 1 freeway project into four sections, and only the first leg, from I-540 to Durant and Perry Creek roads, scored high enough to get funding in the most recent plan.
NCDOT set a tentative date for breaking ground on the second and third legs in 2029 but won’t know for sure until priorities are reassessed in the years ahead. Those legs would extend the freeway north as far as N.C. 98 Business.
Meanwhile, the department doesn’t have money to start building the final leg, north to Purnell/Harris roads, any time in the next decade.
But that could change. It’s possible that some or all of those legs could move up NCDOT’s priorities list in the next version of the 10-year plan, which will be adopted in 2025.
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