Clayton Bypass

The Clayton Bypass is a four-lane highway opened on June 9, 2008, in Johnston County, North Carolina, United States. It connects Interstate 40 near the southeastern corner of Wake County to US Highway 70 just northwest of Smithfield. It is intended to reduce congestion on US Highway 70 in the vicinity of Clayton, North Carolina, cutting an estimated 15 minutes of travel time for drivers traveling between Raleigh and the eastern part of the state [ [http://www.newsobserver.com/248/story/677427.html newsobserver.com | U.S. 70 bypass to open in '08 ] ] [http://wral.com/news/state/story/3012077/ Bypass will speed trip east of Raleigh on U.S. 70, I-40 :: WRAL.com ] ] , but concerns have been expressed that it will increase congestion on a heavily traveled stretch of Interstate 40 in southeastern Wake County [http://www.newsobserver.com/news/growth/traffic/story/795088.html newsobserver.com | Clayton Bypass completion is in sight ] ] .

Construction

The bypass was first planned in 1991, but several setbacks, including controversy over building a bridge through territory of an endangered mussel, held up beginning the project until 2005. Originally scheduled for completion in June 2009 [http://www.ncdot.org/projects/us70claytonbypass/] , a severe drought in the area through most of 2007 and into the spring of 2008 allowed construction to proceed more rapidly than anticipated, and the highway was opened June 9, 2008.

Route description

The western end of the bypass connects to Interstate 40 approximately four miles southeast of the current I-40-US 70 interchange. The eastern end connects to the US 70 bypass and business routes northwest of Smithfield, North Carolina. The combination results in an effectively continuous business route passing through Clayton and Smithfield and a an effectively continuous bypass passing south of Clayton and north of Smithfield (and east of the rapidly-growing community of Cleveland). Drivers are thus able to bypass Clayton, Smithfield, or both.

The Clayton bypass is a limited access freeway of two lanes in each direction, with interchanges at Interstate 40, North Carolina Highway 42, Ranch Road, and US Highway 70 between Clayton and Smithfield, North Carolina. To complete the bypass and connect with U.S. 70 business, the US 70 bypass actually overlaps with I-40 for four miles in southeastern Wake County southeast of Garner.

Electronic signs provide traffic information and estimates of travel time, a first in the area, and cameras and pavement sensors provide traffic engineers real-time information about the number of vehicles and their speeds.

References