Since January, crews with the North Carolina Department of Transportation have closed Millhouse Road in Orange County each night as part of the ongoing Interstate 40 widening project.

Now, the road’s involvement in the project is about to ramp up even more.

A release from NCDOT on Wednesday said Millhouse Road will be fully closed from New Jericho Road to Cell Tower Drive — a stretch that runs under the two bridges of the interstate — until July. Work to prepare the bridges for construction of new lanes on the I-40 bridges lasted nearly six weeks, which was twice as long NCDOT’s initial projection for the nightly closures of Millhouse Road. The switch to full closure is expected to take place at 11 p.m. on Sunday, March 10.

Such bridge expansions and new construction is already seen as part of the project. The stretch of I-40 over Old N.C. 86 in Hillsborough has been the site of new lane and bridge construction for months.

Like overnight travelers have had to do, those looking to navigate around the closure will be detoured by signs to take Eubanks Road in Chapel Hill to North Carolina Highway 86. NCDOT asked drivers to be cautious around the closure and to plan for delays caused by the diversion of traffic.

The I-40 widening project work on the bridges over Old N.C. 86 and its exit near Hillsborough, as photographed in January 2024. (Photo via the North Carolina Department of Transportation.)

The construction is part of the state Department of Transportation’s years-long project to expand I-40 in Orange County from four lanes to six. After beginning in 2021, the project’s webpage still forecasts the widening to be complete in the fourth quarter of 2025.

For more information about the closure, visit the NCDOT’s traffic map website.

 

Featured image via Google Maps

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