Weeklong closures start after midnight Sunday
BENSON – Beginning next week, drivers who use the Interstate 95/Interstate 40 interchange in Johnston County will encounter loop closures and detours that will allow workers to safely do repaving operations.
Interstate 40 East traffic will not have access to the Interstate 95 North loop, and I-95 South traffic will not have access to the I-40 East loop. If weather conditions allow, the closures will begin at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 29 and last until about 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 2.
Signed detours will direct motorists to the next exit on the interstates, then to turn around. Thus, motorists traveling on I-40 East who are headed for I-95 northbound will detour to exit 334, then take I-40 West to reach I-95 North.
I-95 South traffic headed to Raleigh will detour to exit 79, then take I-95 North to connect with I-40 East.
Then, from Monday, Nov. 5 to Friday, Nov. 9th during the same closure times, I-40 West traffic will not have access to the I-95 South loop. A detour will send I-40 West traffic to exit 325, then on to I-40 East before exiting at 328B to reach I-95 South.
During the closures, contract crews will repair any cracks and potholes on the concrete surface of the loops, and they will repave, using a concrete mixture, I-40’s concrete bridge decks that span I-95.
Last year, the N.C. Department of Transportation awarded a $10.2 million contract to improve the surface of I-40 between exit 313 near N.C. 42 and the I-40/I-95 interchange in Benson. Workers are using a cost-effective process known as diamond grinding to smooth the existing concrete surface, and they are repairing any cracks and potholes with the concrete and performing other rehabilitation work to the pavement and the bridges along this stretch.
The entire project is scheduled to be completed by next summer.
