NCDOT Slow-Rolling Roadblocks on Eastbound I-40 Near Garner Start Wednesday

Slow-rolling roadblocks hit all lanes of eastbound Interstate 40 near Garner this week, with the North Carolina Department of Transportation reducing traffic to around 25 mph each afternoon as part of an operation announced March 10 and scheduled to run through March 22.

The daily slowdowns begin at approximately 2:30 p.m. and last until about 3 p.m. The operation centers just past Exit 306, and NCDOT advises that motorists traveling I-40 East between exits 309 and 311 should expect the slow-moving roadblock each day within that window.

According to NCDOT's announcement, several pilot vehicles with flashing amber lights are guiding eastbound traffic through the reduced-speed zone. Message boards along the affected stretch of I-40 are also alerting drivers to the temporary change before they reach it.

The NCDOT notice, issued the day before operations began, described the effort as intended to create a sufficient gap in traffic flow, though the publicly available text of the notice was truncated and did not fully specify the purpose. The headline supplied by NCDOT identified blasting safety as the reason for the operation; the department had not provided a fuller public explanation in materials available at the time of publication.

The 30-minute daily window, running through March 22, is brief but falls squarely in the early afternoon, a period when I-40 between Garner and Raleigh carries substantial commercial and commuter traffic heading toward the Beltline. Drivers heading eastbound through that corridor should plan for the slowdown each weekday afternoon for the remainder of the operation.