Triangle Travelers Face More Construction, Changes at RDU, REAL ID Deadline in 2020
Our journalists are writing about what they expect to be some of the big topics they’ll report on in 2020.
New and wider highways, changes at Raleigh-Durham International Airport and new ID requirements for airline passengers will be among the transportation stories making headlines in 2020.
Several big road construction projects aimed at relieving congestion will pick up steam in the coming year, including the widening of Interstate 40 south of Raleigh, the widening of the last four-lane stretch of the Beltline and the building of N.C. 540 across southern Wake County. All three of those projects will still be under construction when the year ends.
But some construction work that drivers have been living with for a while will come to an end in 2020, including the overhaul of Capital Boulevard and the Peace Street interchange just north of downtown Raleigh and the East End Connector, which will link N.C. 147 and U.S. 70 in Durham. The finished East End Connector will introduce a new interstate highway to the Triangle: I-885, from I-85 south to I-40.
Changes coming at RDU
Raleigh-Durham International Airport will continue to set passenger records. To help alleviate crowding in Terminal 2, the main terminal, low-cost carriers Allegiant, Frontier and Spirit airlines are scheduled to move to Terminal 1 in the spring, when RDU reactivates four gates that had been mothballed.
Mass transit will still mean buses
Mass transit in the Triangle will still be limited to buses in the coming year, though planning for bus-rapid transit, which promises more speed and creature comforts, will continue in Raleigh and Chapel Hill. Construction on the region’s first BRT line was expected to begin in Chapel Hill late this year, but has been pushed back. And GoTriangle is expected to give us an early look at the planned commuter rail line that could someday follow the N.C. Railroad tracks from Johnston County through Raleigh, Cary, Research Triangle Park and Durham as far west as Mebane.
REAL ID deadline meets DMV move
On Oct. 1, the federal government will begin enforcing new identification standards that will require travelers to present either a passport, U.S. military ID or a REAL ID before boarding a domestic flight. The Division of Motor Vehicles has been urging people not to wait until the last minute to get a REAL ID license but expects to issue more than a million in the coming year. DMV will also be busy moving its head office from Raleigh to Rocky Mount by October and will learn how many of its headquarters employees will leave the agency rather than move.
The N.C. Department of Transportation should begin to regain its financial footing, after major hurricanes and legal settlements forced it to cut costs and suspend pre-construction engineering work on some 900 road projects. NCDOT officials say they should be able to resume work on about half of those projects by summer.
And expect more drone news out of the Triangle, as UPS continues to test the use of drones to deliver lab samples and medical supplies in Wake County. After some delays, the Israeli company Flytrex is expected to make its first food deliveries by drone in Holly Springs this year.
Richard Stradling covers transportation. For smart, reliable and timely coverage of the issues you care about, subscribe to The News & Observer at newsobserver.com/subscribe or subscribe to The Herald-Sun at heraldsun.com/subscribe.
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