Ahead of a traffic shift in the heart of the Interstate 40 widening project in Orange County, construction and road crews are set to close an on-ramp to the thoroughfare for three nights.

An alert from the North Carolina Department of Transportation on Friday warned motorists the Lane Construction Corporation will close the on-ramp to I-40 East at New Hope Church Road starting on Monday, August 11. The closure will begin at 10 p.m. and will last overnight until 5 a.m. — with the same closures happening the nights of Tuesday, August 12 and Wednesday, August 13.

The detour for the ramp closure, according to NCDOT, will direct drivers to I-40 East by taking I-40 West to Old N.C. Highway 86 in Hillsborough — one exit over — before turning onto Old N.C. 86 and joining the eastbound traffic. Motorist are asked to use caution when approaching the detour route and check traffic sources for real-time information during the closures.

The announcement is the latest in a string of overnight closures along the interstate in Orange County. The off- and on-ramps of Old N.C. Highway 86 had their own closures in July for construction work on the I-40 bridge, while NCDOT-contracted crews demolished parts of the old bridge in May. Construction work also shut down the ramp connecting I-85 South to I-40 East in June, with the closure is expected to last until September.

The Interstate 40-Old N.C. 86 exchange in Hillsborough, taken Feb. 2025. Since then, NCDOT crews has worked to shift traffic from running on the old lanes to the newer constructed center lanes to better allow for work on the outer lanes of the roadway. (Photo via the North Carolina Department of Transportation.)

The work is all part of the state Department of Transportation’s effort to widen Interstate 40 to six total lanes in Orange County, requiring extensive work across and under 11.4 miles of roadway. In NCDOT’s latest substantive update from Feb. 2025 on its project website, it detailed traffic shifts to the completed inside lanes, median grading being complete, the concrete batch plant functioning at the Chapel Hill exchange with North Carolina Highway 86 and more than 80 drainage pipes being installed under the road.

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