A state audit says the Blue Ridge Road underpass by the fairgrounds is nearly four years late and 41% over its first budget, at $71.6 million. Spring 2027 is the target.
The Blue Ridge Road underpass beside the State Fairgrounds is nearly four years behind its contract deadline, the state auditor said Friday. Its funding has grown 41%, from $50.7 million to $71.6 million.
The North Carolina Office of the State Auditor published the findings in a rapid response special report on Oct. 16. The report lands in the middle of the N.C. State Fair, the event the project was built to help.
What the project is
The work lowers Blue Ridge Road so it passes under three crossings:
- Hillsborough Street (N.C. 54)
- the railroad corridor used by CSX, Norfolk Southern and the North Carolina Railroad
- Beryl Road
New bridges will carry all three over the road. A new connector road will link Blue Ridge Road and Hillsborough Street. The aim is to cut congestion and keep cars and trains apart, the report said.
The N.C. Department of Transportation awarded the job to Lane Construction Corp. on Oct. 23, 2018. It shares one design-build contract with the I-440 widening. The price proposal for the whole contract was $346.2 million, according to the report.
The deadline that slipped
The contract required the work to be finished by Aug. 1, 2023. Lane’s own proposed completion date, July 31, 2023, became the final completion date under the contract.
The report traced how NCDOT’s stated target moved:
| When it was said | Stated completion |
|---|---|
| October 2018 (contract) | July 31, 2023 |
| October 2022 | Fall 2024 |
| July 2024 | 2025 State Fair |
| August 2025 | End of 2026 |
| October 2025 (NCDOT Division 5 timeline) | Spring 2027 |
Blue Ridge Road did not close to traffic until October 2022. By then NCDOT had already pushed the public target back to fall 2024, the auditor said.
Where the money went
The report lists each funding action:
- Aug. 20, 2018: $50.7 million initial construction authorization
- Feb. 13, 2020: $3.24 million correction tied to a 2017 federal TIGER grant, bringing the total to $53.9 million
- Nov. 3, 2022: $464,000 and $204,000 in local funds for the CSX and Norfolk Southern rail agreements, bringing it to $54.6 million
- March 12, 2025: a $17 million federal funding request approved by the Federal Highway Administration, bringing it to $71.6 million
The $17 million request was the largest single funding action, the auditor said.
Why it is late
The report named four causes.
- Railroad access. Getting a right-of-entry agreement took longer than planned, so work on railroad land started late.
- Poor soil. The railroad limits meant only limited soil testing before work began. Poor soil found later forced costly design changes.
- Railroad reviews. CSX can take up to 30 days to review a work plan, and up to 30 more for one sent back. Norfolk Southern changed a trackbed design requirement after approving the plans.
- Utilities. The city of Raleigh’s 30-inch water line along Hillsborough Street, a water tank and fiber lines all had to move.
Three change orders show part of the cost. One for $66,238.69 in November 2023 covered extra work caused by railroad approval delays. One for $21,629.54 in February 2025 paid for the trackbed redesign. A third, for $1.5 million in April 2025, covered rebuilding the full trackbed, the report said.
Penalties nobody has reported
The contract lets NCDOT charge Lane daily penalties for missed deadlines:
- $20,000 a day for missing substantial completion
- $5,000 a day after that, until final completion
- $5,000 a day if the Hillsborough Street bridge over Blue Ridge Road is not open by its milestone date, rising to $25,000 a day during the State Fair
NCDOT has not said publicly whether it has charged any of them, the auditor found.
What the auditor found
The report made five findings:
- NCDOT does not report the underpass’s costs and schedule apart from the I-440 widening, though the contract splits the two.
- Railroad access and approvals caused delays and cost increases.
- NCDOT relies on a one-time progress schedule instead of a live critical path schedule.
- NCDOT has no structured, project-specific way to track soil and utility problems.
- NCDOT does not report weather delays on the project in a consistent or timely way.
What NCDOT said
NCDOT responded to a draft of the report on Sept. 22. It said it will update the project website with a more specific completion milestone once that milestone is final. It is negotiating with Lane to set a completion date for the Blue Ridge Road work separate from the I-440 widening, the report said.
The department said penalty decisions “may not be available until project closeout.” It does not plan to add a critical path schedule this late in the job. It also does not plan to publish a running count of weather days. Individual weather events do not automatically push back the completion date, it said.
What it means for you
- Blue Ridge Road stays closed. DriveNC lists both directions closed from Pylon Drive to the Hillsborough Street bridge until March 31, 2027.
- Fair traffic runs through Oct. 25. DriveNC lists fair traffic on Blue Ridge Road between Wade Avenue and N.C. 54 through Sunday, Oct. 25. Our road work and closures page has the other fair routes.
- No firm date yet. NCDOT has not published a contract completion date for the underpass. We will update this story when it does.
- Read it yourself. The full report, with NCDOT’s response, is on the state auditor’s website.
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