Raleigh plans multimodal bridge to ease Six Forks Road traffic

Raleigh is moving toward a multimodal bridge over I-440 near Six Forks Road that would carry cars, bicycles and pedestrians to Barrett Drive. The package also includes smaller fixes at Millbrook Road, North Glen and between Northbrook and Northwood, where daily backups can turn short trips to shops and offices into long waits.

The bridge sits inside Raleigh’s Walkable Midtown Plan, which the City Council adopted unanimously in December 2020. City staff finished alignment study work and public engagement in spring 2023, and the council later approved Comprehensive Plan Amendment CP-2-23 to match the preferred bridge alignment. The city is now preparing preliminary design and the scope and fee for the 30 percent design phase, with authorization to proceed with bridge design set for the July 1 council meeting using FY24 funding.

The bridge is only one part of the transportation reset. Raleigh’s original Six Forks Road Improvement Project began design in spring 2020 with a $31.3 million budget, but the estimate climbed to $119.0 million by October 2023. The scaled-down widening concept was still estimated at $56.1 million in 2024 and then $93.5 million in 2025, and city leaders concluded it could not be built with available funding. The city has since shifted to a smaller safety package, estimated at about $7 million, between Rowan Street and Millbrook Road.

Those smaller fixes include closing the 500-foot sidewalk gap in front of Carroll Middle School, adding a signalized pedestrian crossing between Northbrook and Northwood, installing a new signal at North Glen, and making intersection improvements at Millbrook. Remaining Six Forks funds will help pay for bridge design and other transportation projects.

Reaction around the corridor has been split for years. At a February 2023 public meeting, neighbors and business owners warned that some bridge alignments could displace condos and businesses on Barrett Drive and add more traffic pressure. Raleigh has argued that I-440 is a barrier for people trying to walk or bike across the corridor and that a better crossing would connect more comfortably to the Capital Area Greenway system.