Western Boulevard and its connections with the Raleigh Beltline will be closed this weekend, as contractors work on getting the interchange into its final form.
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Western and all the ramps to and from Interstate 440 are scheduled to close at 8 p.m. Friday and not reopen until 5 a.m. Monday, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation.
Detours will direct Beltline drivers to the next exit — Melbourne Road for those going westbound and Hillsborough Street for those headed east.
The construction work at Western is part of a much larger project to widen I-440 to six lanes between Wade Avenue in Raleigh and I-40 in Cary. Started in 2019, the widening is complete, but contractors are still doing final paving and other work at the Western, Hillsborough and Wade interchanges, which were all reconfigured and rebuilt.
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The Western Boulevard interchange became the Triangle’s first diverging diamond in 2021. The design involves crisscrossing traffic at either end of the underpass under the highway in a way that eliminates potentially dangerous left turns and the amount of time drivers spend sitting at red lights.
The diverging diamond was initially established with orange and white barrels. This weekend’s closure will allow contractors to finish putting the interchange into its final traffic pattern.
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