Triangle Expressway


The Triangle Expressway is the first modern toll road built in North Carolina, and one of the first toll roads in the United States built to use only electronic toll collection instead of toll booths. The overall freeway consists of three segments called the Triangle Parkway, the Western Wake Expressway, and the Southern Wake Expressway, totalling up to long. The six-lane Triangle Parkway extends Interstate 885 via North Carolina Highway 885 in Durham County to meet North Carolina Highway 540 in Morrisville in Wake County. The Western Wake Expressway extends long, extending NC 540 to meet NC 55 in Apex. The Southern Wake Expressway extends long, extending NC 540 to meet I-40 and I-42 southeast of Garner.

Description of the project

The money for the project comes from $625 million in bonds and a $387 million loan from the federal government. The North Carolina Turnpike Authority deposited this money on July 29, 2009, and on the same day the agency's executive director David W. Joyner signed contracts to pay $584 million of that money to three companies to build the road over the next 42 months, creating 13,800 jobs.

Triangle Parkway

S. T. Wooten Corp. of Wilson, North Carolina built the northern section, an extension of NC 147, called the Triangle Parkway, at a cost of $137.5 million, including an electronic toll plaza on I-540. The new road opened for traffic on December 8, 2011 and extends from the previously existing section of NC 147 south from I-40 to an section of the Northern Wake Expressway. Completed in 2007, the existing section became part of the toll road on August 2, 2012. Originally envisioned as part of I-540, because of rules against tolls on Interstate Highways, this section is now called NC 540. When Research Triangle Park was created in the late 1950s, a corridor of land was preserved to be available for the Triangle Parkway's eventual construction. Another $230 million was spent on of additional right-of-way for the entire road.
Actual tolling of the new section of road began January 3, 2012.

Western Wake Freeway

Granite Construction of Watsonville, California, and Archer Western Contractors of Atlanta worked together as Raleigh Durham Roadbuilders to complete the Western Wake Freeway at a cost of $446.5 million. This section of the Triangle Expressway, which extends from NC 55 at RTP to NC 55 at Holly Springs, will become part of NC 540. In summer 2009, work began on the freeway. On August 1, 2012, the second section from NC 55 to US 64 opened, with the remaining six miles south of US 64 to NC 55 in Holly Springs opening December 20, 2012. Tolls and $25 million a year from the North Carolina legislature will finance the project.

Tolls

The Triangle Expressway is built as an all-electronic toll road with billing by license plate, similar to Maryland's Route 200.
Drivers can open an account and use a North Carolina Quick Pass transponder, which results in a lower rate. Other drivers will have their license plates photographed, and they will receive a bill. The expected rates are for those with transponders, and for others.
On May 4, 2010, the Turnpike Authority signed a contract with TransCore to provide transponders. Drivers can, however, use their existing accounts; North Carolina becomes the only state to offer this option. 350,000 new transponders are expected to be issued in the first five years. Transponder sales began October 11, 2011. In later years, interoperability was established with the following ETC systems: E-ZPass, Peach Pass and SunPass.
At the time of its opening, residents in the area have complained about the tolls, considering that the new highway is the only toll road in North Carolina, and especially since other large sections of 540 have been completed without tolls. Business people who plan to use the highway, however, claim that the time savings will more than balance out the cost.

Toll rates

In 2018, the total trip rate was $3.25 with the North Carolina Quick Pass and $5.00 via bill-by-mail. In 2022, the total trip rate was raised to $3.71 with the North Carolina Quick Pass and $5.68 via bill-by-mail. As of January 1, 2024, the total trip rate is now $3.94 with the North Carolina Quick Pass and $6.06 via bill-by-mail. Listed below are the 2024 toll rates, starting at I-885 / Toll N.C. 885 / I-40:
ExitAxlesQuick PassBill by mail
Exit 3/2 - Hopson Rd. / Davis Dr.2$0.45$0.69
Exit 3/2 - Hopson Rd. / Davis Dr.3$0.90$1.38
Exit 3/2 - Hopson Rd. / Davis Dr.4$1.80$2.77
Exit 69 - Chapel Hill Rd. / N.C. 542$0.99$1.52
Exit 69 - Chapel Hill Rd. / N.C. 543$1.98$3.05
Exit 69 - Chapel Hill Rd. / N.C. 544$3.96$6.09
Exit 66 - N.C. 552$1.23$1.89
Exit 66 - N.C. 553$2.46$3.78
Exit 66 - N.C. 554$2.46$3.78
Exit 64 - Morrisville Parkway2$1.77$2.72
Exit 64 - Morrisville Parkway3$3.54$5.45
Exit 64 - Morrisville Parkway4$7.08$10.89
Exit 62 - Green Level West Rd.2$2.22$3.42
Exit 62 - Green Level West Rd.3$4.44$6.83
Exit 62 - Green Level West Rd.4$8.88$13.66
Exit 59: U.S. 642$2.76$4.25
Exit 59: U.S. 643$5.52$8.49
Exit 59: U.S. 644$11.04$16.98
Exit 57 - Old U.S. Hwy 1 / S. Salem St.2$3.43$5.28
Exit 57 - Old U.S. Hwy 1 / S. Salem St.3$6.86$10.55
Exit 57 - Old U.S. Hwy 1 / S. Salem St.4$13.72$21.11
Exit 56 - U.S. 12$3.43$5.28
Exit 56 - U.S. 13$6.86$10.55
Exit 56 - U.S. 14$13.72$21.11
Exit 55 - Veridea Parkway2$3.77$5.80
Exit 55 - Veridea Parkway3$7.54$11.60
Exit 55 - Veridea Parkway4$15.08$23.20
Exit 54 - N.C. 552$3.94$6.06
Exit 54 - N.C. 553$7.88$12.12
Exit 54 - N.C. 554$15.76$24.25
Exit 50 - Holly Springs Road2$4.66$7.15
Exit 50 - Holly Springs Road3$9.32$14.30
Exit 50 - Holly Springs Road4$18.64$28.60
Exit 47 - Bells Lake Road2$5.32$8.17
Exit 47 - Bells Lake Road3$10.64$16.34
Exit 47 - Bells Lake Road4$21.28$32.68
Exit 45 - U.S. 4012$5.95$9.14
Exit 45 - U.S. 4013$11.90$18.28
Exit 45 - U.S. 4014$23.80$36.56
Exit 43 - Old Stage Road2$6.46$9.93
Exit 43 - Old Stage Road3$12.92$19.86
Exit 43 - Old Stage Road4$25.84$39.72
Exit 39 - N.C. 502$7.43$11.42
Exit 39 - N.C. 503$14.86$22.84
Exit 39 - N.C. 504$29.72$45.68
Exit 36 - I-40/I-422$8.01$12.31
Exit 36 - I-40/I-423$16.02$24.62
Exit 36 - I-40/I-424$32.04$49.24

History

The "Triangle Parkway" was first proposed in 1958, as part of Research Triangle Park. On February 16, 2005, it was one of four roads selected by the Turnpike Authority to be built as toll roads in North Carolina. The estimated cost was $69 million for between Davis Drive and NC 54. An additional $29 million could be spent extending that highway to McCrimmon Parkway in Morrisville, whose leaders opposed the idea. The original parkway route, however, had no real opponents.
At the groundbreaking ceremony in 2009, Representative David Price pointed out that using tolls to finance this road "was not our first choice." Instead, area governments concluded the road would have taken 15 more years to complete any other way, so the decision to charge tolls came in 2005. The Western Wake Expressway from RTP to Holly Springs had been delayed earlier in the year, and the legislature had increased the number of toll projects allowed from four to nine.
In July 2006, the legislature decided to allow the section of I-540 connecting the Triangle Parkway and Western Wake Expressway to be a toll road if the other two roads were also toll roads, even though the road was already being built.
Federal approval for the use of tolls came in January 2007. The Turnpike Authority asked that the new section of road not be called an Interstate.
Just before the July 2007 opening of the I-540 section between I-40 and NC 55, I-540 signs came down, replaced with NC 540 signs. Using the designation NC 540, a decision made in May 2007, was less confusing than giving the road an entirely new number.
The name "Triangle Expressway" became official in May 2007, and turnpike board member Perry R. Safran said the committee also wanted the nickname "TriEx".
On November 14, 2007, the board decided toll booths would not be used, and on June 5, 2008, the State House voted to approve $25 million a year for 39 years for the project. This would cover the difference between expected toll collections and actual costs.
Groundbreaking was held on August 12, 2009 at the west end of Interstate 540. "A dozen dignitaries" used shovels painted gold as 150 watched.
On December 8, 2011, the first leg of the Triangle Expressway opened to traffic. Toll collection began January 3, 2012.
On August 1, 2012, the second section of the Triangle Expressway, from Research Triangle Park to U.S. 64, opened. Toll collection began the following day.
On December 20, 2012, the section from U.S. 64 to NC 55 in Holly Springs opened with toll collection beginning in January.
Toll rates change almost annually as required by the bond covenant created for the funding of the Expressway. Since its initial rate set at 2012, it has increased in 2013, 2015 and 2016.
On January 20, 2017, the expressway was chosen as one of 10 testing locations for driverless cars.
On June 30, 2022, Toll NC 147 was re-designated as Toll NC 885 as a part of the opening of the East End Connector Project.
On September 26, 2024, the section from NC 55 in Holly Springs to the I-40/US 70 Interchange in Garner was opened to traffic.