Widen Highway 42 East In Clayton Update

** Update March 2023**

The road work to widen Hwy 42 in Clayton from Glen Laurel Road to Buffalo Road is nearing completion. Local residents will certainly be happy when the constant shifting of lanes will finally be over!

**Update 2018**

The work has begun on widening Hwy 42 East from Glen Laurel Rd to Buffalo Rd in Clayton. The first stages involve removing the many trees along the road and next to the river. They have also begun removing fencing and subdivison entrances along the route starting at Bennett Place and Neuse Colony subdivisions.

Schedule To Widen Highway 42 East In Clayton, NC?

The North Carolina Department of Transportation held a meeting recently in Clayton to discuss and explain the process of widening Highway 42 East and replacing the bridge over the Neuse River. The project is to widen N.C. 42 East from Glen Laurel Rd. to Buffalo Rd a distance of just over four miles.  The road will be widened from a 2 lane highway to a 4-lane median divided highway. The section of the highway from HWY 70 to Glen Laurel Rd was recently widened.  

Project Schedule

The phase the project is at now is called Right of Way Acquisition, with a tentative construction start date of 2018.The highly travelled road has seen increased traffic for a number of years with the growing populations of Clayton and the Flowers Plantation/ Archer Lodge area. With more and more subdivisions being developed and increasing numbers of new residents the need for the improvements are obvious. While the schedule is subject to change we were informed that one of the first items of business will be to replace the bridge over the Neuse River at Castleberry Road. In order to accommodate the traffic currently using the bridge the plan is to build one side of the new bridge first and when that is complete traffic will be switched to it. The old bridge will then come down and the remaining side of the bridge will be built. I think it’s safe to say there might be some delays during rush hour while this is going on.  

Subdivisions Along Highway 42 East

There are a number of subdivisions along the project area, a school and retail parcels. There will be properties along the project route that will be affected and entrance ways to subdivisions along the route will either be realigned or moved back. The image on the right shows the proposed realignment of the Portofino Subdivision with Motorcycle Road.   SaveSave