Contractors with the North Carolina Department of Transportation will be closing an off ramp along Interstate 40 in Orange County for at least three weeks.

The Exit 261 off ramp from I-40 East onto Old North Carolina Highway 86 will close beginning at 10 p.m. the night of October 19 to allow for ramp construction. It is scheduled to reopen by 5 a.m. the morning of November 10.

During the closure, a signed detour will direct motorists who normally take Exit 261 to proceed down the interstate, take Exit 263, get back on I-40 westbound and then take Exit 261 from the other side of the interstate. Transportation officials are reminding drivers to plan ahead for the detour, to remain alert and to obey all posted traffic signs.

The large-scale construction projects across Interstate 40 in Orange County are all part of the widening project, which seeks to widen the interstate to six total lanes in the county. Just this year, the NCDOT has demolished parts of the old bridge over Old N.C. 86 and shut down the ramp connecting Interstate 85 South to I-40 East. Updates on the project can be found on the NCDOT’s project website here.

 

Featured image via Chapel Hill Media Group/Brighton McConnell

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