UPDATE: After Orange County Fire and Life Safety, NCDOT, and the blasting contractor initially being postponed by one week, the Town of Hillsborough confirmed blasting is set to take place on Monday, March 18. A spokesperson for the local government said blasting will take place from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. near Rippy Lane on the north side of Interstate 40. Unlike the first announcement stated, though, traffic on I-40 and its ramps is not expected to be interrupted by Monday’s blasts.
Below is the original story, published on Friday, March 8 which details the initial plans for rock blasting and details on the project.
Ahead of the installation of utilities and construction of a major industrial park south of Hillsborough, local authorities are alerting people of plans for blasting and its resulting noise.
A release from the Town of Hillsborough said rock blasting by contractors working on the future Research Triangle Logistics Park project is set to begin at 11 a.m. on Monday, March 11 and will cause some initial disruption to those in the area — including drivers on Interstate 40. After the Orange County Fire and Life Safety Division conducts a pre-blast survey, Hillsborough said traffic on the interstate “will be temporarily stopped on I-40 at the overpass over Old N.C. 86” for the initial blast. Traffic on Old N.C. 86 will continue as normal.
After that, the town’s release said another blast from the site is expected around 3 p.m. on Monday, and more will follow “intermittently” for the next two weeks.
An aerial view of the future site of the Research Triangle Logistics Park, which will be right off of Interstate 40 and Old N.C. 86. (Photo via Google Maps.)
The blasting will take place almost a week after Avison Young, the Barrister Commercial Group and Terra Equity I, LLC, broke ground on the Research Triangle Logistics Park site on March 5. The 162-acre project represents Class A industrial development for Orange County and aims to bring a five-building park and 2.4 million square feet of space for future tenants. According to a press release by Avison Young, which is handling the leasing of the logistics park on behalf of the Barrister Commercial Group.
“Barrister Commercial’s new Research Triangle Logistics Park in Orange County is set to become one of the largest business parks in the Raleigh-Durham and Research Triangle market,” said Orange County Economic Development Director Steve Brantley in the release. “The park will now enable commercial land development within the County’s economic development district, located south of I-40 and Hillsborough, with newly established water and sewer utilities, consequently creating new jobs and opportunities for both our county and the broader region, and we are extremely excited about that.”
Concept design for the Research Triangle Logistics Park application in Orange County, as presented in 2020. (Photo via Kimley + Horn.)
A rendering of the future Research Triangle Logistics Park in Orange County. (Photo via Avison Young.)
The Research Triangle Logistics Park sits in Orange County’s zoning jurisdiction and the Board of County Commissioners approved the project 6-1 in October 2020. More information about the project’s application can be found on the Orange County planning website.
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