I-40 to remain 2 lanes at Clayton Bypass.

By: Melanie Sanders | NBC-17
Published: January 20, 2012

CLAYTON, N.C. --

Johnston County drivers are frustrated with the state's multi-million dollar effort to ease congestion in the area of the Clayton Bypass.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation announced a plan Thursday that would permanently narrow I-40, where drivers are entering from the Clayton Bypass.

A shift has been in place since mid-September, using orange barrels and temporary lane markings, to allow the Department to study whether it improved traffic flow and travel time through that area.

Steve Abbott with the N.C. DOT says the previous configuration -- which included three lanes -- caused traffic stops, so the department shut down one lane and says it will keep it that way.

"You had the combination of the Clayton Bypass drivers and the I-40 drivers cutting back into the main two lanes of I-40 at different locations," Abbott explained. "Every time they cut in, traffic stops and it went all the way back."

The shift moves traffic one lane to the right, eliminating the existing outside third lane as the Bypass merges onto the interstate.

"By eliminating that lane, motorists coming off the Bypass merge onto I-40 traffic much sooner," the DOT said. "Motorists already on I-40 can no longer go around traffic backed up on the inside two lanes and then cut back in."

Drivers, however, believe the reduction to two lanes is a bad idea, saying the third lane provides an "escape."

"I think it should stay three lanes," Ray Himes said. "I ride a motorcycle and [drive] a truck with oversized equipment, the three lanes is whole lot better."

Abbott contested, "We found the people who are complaining are the people who are bypassing and cutting in."

Sunday morning, barrels will be removed and replaced with a solid lane that is said to cost between $25,000 and $30,000.

The DOT says work will begin within four years to widen I-40 from Raleigh into Johnston County, and the third lane will already be in place for the widening effort.

The project comes with an estimated cost of $81 million.