(RALEIGH) -- The miles of toll road in North Carolina are about to get longer. A new leg of the Triangle Expressway toll road opens in a few weeks.

A six-mile stretch of the highway opens for business on August 1.   The six-lane addition will extend the 540 Outer Loop south from NC Highway 55 to U.S. 64 in Wake County.

"For the folks that are going to pay the toll they're going to have a band new interstate style road they can cruise which we think is going to save them quite a bit of travel time and for the folks even who do not want to pay the toll staying on 55, well, for everybody that moves over to 540, to the Triangle Expressway, that's one less car they have to deal with on 55," said Steve Abbot with the Department of Transportation.

He added that the toll expressway will grow even more in December. That's when another portion of the road is scheduled to open from U.S. 64 to the souther part of Wake County.