Road construction may change how you get to the North Carolina State Fair this year

The N.C. State Fair is always a mix of old traditions and something new, and this year that something new may include how you get there.

Road construction near the State Fairgrounds may change your route and where you park. And while the train will be an option again this year, the only buses designated for fairgoers will be those from two large parking lots within a mile or so of the fairgrounds.

Let’s start with that construction. Blue Ridge Road is closed at the railroad crossing just south of Hillsborough Street. The N.C. Department of Transportation is building an underpass that will eventually take Blue Ridge under Hillsborough, the train tracks and Beryl Road.

But until the underpass opens late next year, you won’t be able to take Blue Ridge Road up to the fairgrounds from Western Boulevard. You also won’t be able to cross the railroad tracks on foot, so there won’t be any fair parking along Beryl Road or other place south of the tracks.

North of the tracks, Hillsborough Street has reopened after being closed at Blue Ridge this summer. In the days leading up to the fair, contractors are rushing to finish repaving Hillsborough east of the fairgrounds and open a new sidewalk between the University Club and Blue Ridge.

But Blue Ridge Road itself will be constricted to two lanes along the east side of the fairgrounds, between Hillsborough and Trinity Road. To avoid that bottleneck, fair organizers are asking people to arrive from the north and west if possible.

“We really encourage fairgoers to approach the fairgrounds from Edwards Mill Road and follow signage and directions from law enforcement to the State Fair and available parking,” spokeswoman Andrea Ashby wrote in an email.

Plenty of free parking available

The State Fair offers free parking in two large remote lots that are a short shuttle bus ride to and from the fairgrounds.

The Cardinal Lot is at 5766 Chapel Hill Road, which is also N.C. 54, west of the fairgrounds. The shuttle there takes people to and from Gate 7, off Youth Center Drive.

The Bandwidth Dogwood Lot is at 4501 Reedy Creek Road, off Edwards Mill north of the fairgrounds. Shuttles will run between there and Trinity Road, near Gates 8 and 9.

Both lots open at 11 a.m. Oct. 12 and 9 a.m. Oct. 13 through Oct. 22. They close one hour after the fairground gates shut for the night.

Accessible parking is available on a first-come, first-served basis off Trinity Road near Gate 10.

There’s also free parking across Trinity at Carter-Finley Stadium and the PNC Arena. But the PNC Arena parking won’t be available before the Travis Scott concerts on Oct. 13 and 14 and the Shania Twain show on Oct. 18. Traffic around the fairgrounds will be particularly heavy before and after those evening shows as well.

The parking lot shuttle buses will be the only ones dedicated to fairgoers again this year. GoRaleigh, GoDurham and GoTriangle, which once ran fair express buses, are still dealing with driver shortages and are concentrating on their daily routes instead.

Raleigh Beltline may look unfamiliar

One more note about driving to the State Fairgrounds: If you haven’t been on the Raleigh Beltline near the fairgrounds in a while, you may not recognize it.

The multi-year effort to widen the highway, also known at Interstate 440, and rebuild the interchanges is still underway. And while the travel lanes are still open, it’s very much a construction zone, with jersey barriers and shifting traffic patterns.

NCDOT recently opened two new ramps at the Wade Avenue interchange.

Drivers on eastbound Wade headed toward North Raleigh now take a new ramp off to the left, rather than the old loop ramp that brought traffic to a crawl.

Meanwhile, drivers going from eastbound I-440 onto westbound Wade now take a tight loop ramp, rather than turn left at the old traffic light. That loop ramp will be used temporarily until a new bridge is built.

Many State Fair trains already sold out

Amtrak will make special stops near the fairgrounds, though the schedule has changed a bit from years past and many of the most convenient trains are already sold out.

Visitors coming from the west can make it a day trip by catching the northbound Carolinian, train No. 80, that departs Charlotte at 6:45 a.m. The train stops in Kannapolis, Salisbury, High Point, Greensboro, Burlington, Durham and Cary before its scheduled stop at the fairgrounds at 9:53 a.m. That train appears to be sold out all week.

Tickets are still available on the later option, train No. 72, the northbound Piedmont, that leaves Charlotte at 10:25 a.m. and makes all the same stops before arriving at the fairgrounds at 1:37 p.m.

Heading home, fairgoers can catch the southbound Piedmont, train No. 77, which will stop at the fairgrounds station at 3:29 p.m. It will make all the same intermediate stops except Kannapolis before its scheduled arrival in Charlotte at 6:21 p.m.

The other option home, the southbound Carolinian, train No. 79, is mostly sold out for the week. It’s scheduled to leave the fairgrounds about 5:44 p.m., but note that this train originates in New York City early in the morning and is more prone to being late by the time it gets to the Triangle.

For more information about schedules and tickets, go to www.ncbytrain.org/. To find State Fair tickets, use the station code NSF.