Burlington police crack down on speeding, racing along U.S. 70 corridor

Weeks of complaints about speeding, racing, loud exhaust and impaired driving on the U.S. 70 corridor pushed Burlington police into a four-hour enforcement operation late Friday, bringing blue lights and a mobile breath-testing unit onto one of Alamance County’s busiest travel routes. The effort stretched from Burlington toward Haw River and ended with 43 traffic stops and 36 charges.

Police said the corridor was selected because residents had repeatedly complained and crash data showed it was one of the city’s most troublesome stretches of road. Since January 2025, Burlington police said they had received 56 calls for service in the immediate area involving impaired drivers. Officers also pointed to three intersections that have drawn particular concern: U.S. 70 at NC 87, U.S. 70 at NC 62 and U.S. 70 at North Graham-Hopedale Road.

Those three intersections accounted for 363 crashes from January 2021 through December 2025, an average of more than 100 crashes at each location. That record helps explain why the operation targeted not just speeding, but the full range of dangerous driving behavior that residents have been complaining about along South Church Street and the U.S. 70 corridor.

The operation was sponsored by the NC Governor’s Highway Safety Program and supported by NC Forensic Tests for Alcohol, which brought the BAT Mobile so impaired-driving arrests could be processed on site rather than waiting at the county breath-testing lab. Officers from the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office and the Burlington, Elon and Graham police departments took part. The resulting charges included excessive speeding, reckless driving, driving while impaired and other traffic offenses, along with misdemeanor and felony drug charges.

The Burlington Police Department says its Traffic Section focuses on traffic safety, education and enforcement, with particular attention to high-accident areas and citizen complaints. The department says it has more than 100 sworn officers and 50 professional staff members, and those resources were visible Friday in a coordinated response aimed at a corridor that serves both daily commuters and through traffic between Burlington and Haw River.

City planning documents show why the road remains a priority beyond a single enforcement night. Burlington officials have described U.S. 70, or South Church Street, as a major arterial and regional corridor, and NCDOT project U-6009 calls for safety improvements such as raised medians or a center turn lane to reduce rear-end and left-turn crashes. Burlington-Graham transportation planning materials also say sections of U.S. 70 are near or over capacity and that congestion continues to limit mobility along the corridor.