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RALEIGH – North Carolina is one step closer to having its first toll road, as the U.S. Department of Transportation approved a $384 million loan to build the Triangle Expressway to connect the Durham Freeway to Holly Springs.

Monday, the N.C. Turnpike Authority also started selling bonds to fund the project.

Thousands of people fight traffic along Interstate 40 daily to get to Research Triangle Park. The newer Interstate 540 has relieved some congestion, but the Outer Loop is far from finished.

I-540 already helps drivers get from Knightdale and north Raleigh to RTP, and by the year 2013, I-540 will also connect the Durham Freeway to Holly Springs. In order to get the project going, state leaders say it has to be a toll road and eventually pay for itself.

“By the time the money would have been available through traditional means to finance this project, it will be paid for and the tolls will be off,” said David Joyner, executive director of the N.C. Turnpike Authority.

North Carolina already has the first chunk of money to pay for the expressway in the $386 million loan. The rest will come from the bond sales and $25 million in gap funding from the General Assembly.

With the toll road now closer than ever to reality, drivers have mixed emotions.

“If that's the only way they can pay, I guess that's OK for getting it done,” said David Myers, a commuter. “I think people will still use it if it's faster to get them down to Holly Springs and down to the south.”

“It's going to be bad,” said another commuter, Jennifer Boles. “I don't really see myself paying a whole lot of money. I don't have extra money to put in a toll booth; sometimes you're scraping pennies to get gas.”

Despite that, Joyner says people will eventually get used to it.

“We know this is tough,” he said. “Nobody likes toll roads; I don't like toll roads either. But you've got to do something to get these mega-projects on the ground.”

Officials say the cost of the entire Triangle Expressway is just over $1 billion.

The first project will be the section connecting the Durham Freeway to the existing I-540. That is scheduled to open by the end of next year. The western Wake Freeway, extending I-540 all the way to Holly Springs, is scheduled to open by the end of 2012.