It was too cold for asphalt work Monday and Tuesday nights on I-40 in Durham County, and tonight it's too rainy for any work at all. No traffic lanes will be closed.

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It's still too cold for asphalt paving tonight, with overnight lows expected to reach 44 degrees, but DOT and Lane Construction Corp. plan for a second night to spend a few hours doing preliminary work for their pavement repair project on 10.4 miles of Interstate 40 in Durham County.

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Alternate route for eastbound I-40 (21 miles) between I-85 at Hillsborough and NC 147 in RTP:
North on I-85, south on NC 147 Durham Freeway (22 miles)
[Download route map with directions]

DIRECTIONS:
1. At Exit 163 on I-85N / I-40E near Hillsborough, I-40 splits off in the 2 right lanes. Stay on I-85, in the 3 left lanes.
2. Drive I-85 north for 9 miles to Exit 172 (NC 147 south) in Durham.
3. Drive NC 147 Durham Freeway south for 13 miles to Exit 5 (I-40) in RTP.
4. Stay in the left lane of NC 147 to take I-40 east toward Davis Drive, I-540, RDU and Raleigh
- OR -
Stay in the right lane of NC 147 to take I-40 west toward NC 55, southern Durham and Streets at Southpoint mall.

NOTES:
This is a fast all-freeway, no-stoplight alternative for through-traffic any time -- even when I-40 is free of construction delays. The next time you drive between Raleigh and Greensboro or Charlotte, try NC 147 and I-85 instead of I-40.
It is 22 miles (only 1 mile longer than I-40). It took me 22 minutes when I drove the speed limit on an average morning. Your drive-time may vary.
Unfortunately, it is a bit out of the way if your travel plans do not include I-40 west of Chapel Hill.

More convenient shortcuts may be available, using such 2- and 4-lane roads as NC 86, NC 54, NC 751, US 64, Fayetteville Road and NC 55. That depends on exactly when and where you’re traveling, where the construction work takes place, and which exits are blocked by backed-up traffic. These side roads can handle only a fraction of I-40’s usual traffic load. But they may be worth a try late at night.

Should you take the I-85 / NC 147 detour?
Even if it is miles out of the way, it should be faster than sitting through a 30-minute backup on I-40.

Most of the work is planned for nights, but DOT is allowing Lane Construction Corp. to schedule I-40 repair work around the clock on nine weekends this year. Lane hopes to get a lot of mileage during the long weekends (working from 8pm Friday until 6am Monday), and it opted to put all nine weekends on the work calendar as early in the year as possible.

The first weekend is scheduled for Friday April 20 to Monday April 23, and the ninth is June 29-July. The only two weekends not scheduled for work during that period are May 11-14 (NCSU, Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill commencements, and Mother's Day) and May 25-28 (Memorial Day weekend).

I-40 is busier during daylight hours Saturday and Sunday than overnight, so traffic backups probably will be worse on weekends.  But, if the schedule stays as is, we might have our weekends free after July Fourth.