Since the dawn of the century, the NC Department of Transportation has considered converting the northern part of US-1, from I-540 to the Franklin County line, into a limited-access freeway. In 2006, the Capital Boulevard North Upgrade Project was launched with a corridor study, and in 2012, it was programmed into the State Transportation Improvement Plan with a price tag of $93 million. Construction was scheduled to begin in 2018.
After Hurricanes Matthew and Florence devastated eastern North Carolina and lawsuits cost NCDOT hundreds of millions, the US-1 upgrade project was put on the back burner. This snowballed into increasing right-of-way and construction costs, and continued congestion concerns.
Now, 13 years later, the Capital Boulevard North Upgrade Project has faced four separate delays in construction and three separate cost increases. What began as a project costing taxpayers $93 million has ballooned into a project costing $1.34 billion. Yes, the project was extended, but does that extension justify a cost increase of 1,440%?
Between 2010 to 2020, the town of Wake Forest exploded in growth, adding 17,000 new residents; and Franklin County added 8,000. Every year that NCDOT delays the project, congestion worsens. The average annual daily traffic volume in Segment A, the southernmost part of the upgrade project, has increased by more than 11,000 since 2014.
In 2025, after another cost hike and construction delay, the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) began to explore the option of tolling US-1 to fund the upgrade project. Beyond the obvious problem with imposing the state government’s issue of delays onto the taxpayer through tolls, tolling a local road that tens of thousands of working people use to get to schools, jobs, and healthcare is a patently horrible idea.
When CAMPO conducted its public engagement study, the people of Wake Forest, Franklin County, and the northern Triangle expressed their disapproval of a toll. Out of 1,542 comments, 888 (57.58%) were explicitly against tolling, and only 256 (16.60%) were explicitly for tolling. Moreover, the issue of tolling eclipsed the issue of congestion as the top concern for residents when it came to the US-1 upgrade project.
Despite the clear public rejection of tolling, both the Raleigh City Council and CAMPO voted to pursue tolling of US-1. However, tolling would require approval from the state legislature. Following his constituents’ wishes to move away from tolling Capital Boulevard, state Rep. Mike Schietzelt, R-Wake, led the successful push to ban the possibility of tolls to fund the US-1 upgrade project.
But that leaves the Capital Boulevard North Upgrade Project at another roadblock. Despite a clear public rejection of tolling, US-1 needs a quick and efficient upgrade. The Northern Triangle area continues to grow, both in population and economic investment. However, the lack of a stable intermodal transportation artery is hindering the region from reaching its potential. The one thing everyone in the area can agree on is that something needs to be done about US-1.
While the state might not be able to shoulder the cost of upgrading US-1 on its own, if assisted by grants and aid from the federal government, the upgrade project could be revived.
But why should Washington care about a local transportation matter? US-1 does not simply service the Raleigh area; it is the only direct link between Raleigh and Richmond. US-1 also feeds into I-85 in Henderson and serves as a key freight line for both North Carolina and Virginia.
With rising costs and an overburdened state budget due to Hurricane Helene and economic concerns, the future of the US-1 upgrade project depends on federal partnership.