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| Future I-87 signs are coming to Wake, Franklin and Nash Counties. |
The
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials have recently approved North Carolina's application to remove the short-lived Interstate 495 and future I-495 from Raleigh to Rocky Mount. This administrative move most likely will result in North Carolina signing Interstate 87 and Future I-87 on the entire corridor in the near future.
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| Interstate 495's Future is no longer bright along the I-87 corridor. |
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Approved in 2013, Interstate 495 was first signed in 2014 along US 64 from Interstate 440 in Raleigh to Interstate 540 in Knightdale. The remaining segment of highway to Rocky Mount was signed as Future Interstate 495. However, in 2016, North Carolina's congressional legislators were able to get language in the
2015 FAST ACT designating the US 64/US 13/US 17 corridor from Raleigh to Norfolk as an Interstate. In 2016, the FHWA and AASHTO designated this entire corridor (including the existing Interstate and Future 495)
as Interstate 87. (
NCDOT had applied for Interstate 89 along this route.)
It is currently unknown when the Interstate 495 signs will be taken down and replaced with Interstate 87. When first signed, Interstate 87 will be slightly longer than Interstate 495 was. The designation will run from where Interstate 40 and 440 meet in Southeast Raleigh along Interstate 440 West to Exit 14 where I-495 begins today. Interstate 87 signs will then be on the entire length of the Knightdale Bypass to where Interstate highway standards end at Rolesville Road (Exit 430). There are no currently scheduled plans to upgrade US 64 from Exit 430 to Interstate 95 in Rocky Mount to Interstate standards.
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