After years of planning and delays due to the economy, the Triangle's first toll road is officially under construction.

A ground breaking ceremony Wednesday morning kicked off work on the Triangle Expressway, a nearly 18.8-mile stretch in Wake and Durham Counties. It's made of up three projects; the Western Wake Freeway, Triangle Parkway and a portion of the existing NC 540 between NC 55 and NC 54. The Triangle Parkway portion of the expressway is expected to be open to traffic in 2011, while the Western Wake Freeway should be open in 2012.

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With the turning of dirt the wait is over. Holly Springs Mayor Dick Sears said he believes many people in his community have accepted the idea of a toll road.

"It was either a toll road or no road," Sears said.

Once the Triangle Expressway is built drivers can expect to see all electronic "free-flow toll zones" that will collect the tolls so vehicles don't have to slow down. The Turnpike Authority's Board of Directors has not yet set toll rates, but said the average around the country is 10 to 20 cents per mile.

Sears believes the toll road will cut as much as 20 minutes off the commute from Holly Springs to Research Triangle Park and perhaps contribute to more growth.

"I think it'll have a lot to do with helping Holly Springs and Fuquay and Apex and Morrisville with even more development," Sears explained.

Sears joined other mayors, politicians and members of the DOT and Turnpike authority where I-540 dead-ends to break ground on the Triangle Expressway. Congressman David Price addressed the large crowd and said the project is a "vital link" in to the bigger transportation picture.

"This is a significant occasion for us to reflect on where we've come and where we're going," Price said.

Executive Director of the Turnpike Authority David Joyner thanked local organizations, the North Carolina General Assembly and others he said helped make the project happen and overcome tough times. The project was delayed in 2008 when the economy tanked because financing was hard to come by.

Joyner said during a time when funding for roads is drying up its important to look to the future.

"This area, the Research Triangle Park, is an incubator of the kind of innovative thinking, bold ideas, cutting edge technologies that are needed to create a better paradigm for funding transportation needs," Joyner said.

Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez also attended the ground breaking ceremony, and said toll roads are gaining more interest nationwide.

"There is a lot of interest not only in the concept of toll but other innovative ways, creative ways to finance infrastructure," Mendez said.

Joyner has said it's estimated the $1 billion project, paid for by bonds and federal loans will save or create about 30,000 jobs.

S.T. Wooten Corporation in Wilson has already been awarded the work on the Triangle Parkway through RTP. They will put 150 people to work while creating even more jobs for the hard hit construction industry explained the company's Vice President Jonathan Bivens.

"Sub-contractors will probably have another 300 people that will work on the project and then suppliers probably double that amount," Bivens said.